


Little Legacies (The Academy Years)

by bexgempisces



Series: Connected [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: ADHD, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Anorexia, Character Deaths, Enjoy:), Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Neurodiversity, Nightmares, Nonbinary Character, PTSD, SHIELD Academy (Marvel), Self-Harm, Skye and Lila are gay disasters, Skye/Daisy and Lila get together eventually don’t worry, Slow Burn, Strike Team Delta and Mockingbird raised their children well, Swearing:), Underage Drinking, and now they have a dog, but it’s not that sad, daisy is the emotional support rock in fourth year, dorm room antics, lots of gay disasters but also some straight ones, my little lgbt legacies :), oops sorry, skyes on a lot of meds, there’s so much fluff I promise, they have a group chat, they play capture the flag, theyre all besties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:15:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 70
Words: 111,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27531361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexgempisces/pseuds/bexgempisces
Summary: When she was eight, Skye Daisy Morse-Romanoff was saved from the Red Room and adopted by her moms, Natasha Romanoff and Bobbi Morse.Six years later she’s fourteen and starting SHIELD Academy with her best friend, Lila and a need to prove herself.
Series: Connected [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012164
Comments: 386
Kudos: 253





	1. The Carter Dorm

**Author's Note:**

> Omg I’m back and I'm already bloody in love with writing this story. 
> 
> I highly recommend reading the first fic in this series before this one because otherwise the context might not make sense. 
> 
> So, Skye is 14 and on advanced placement at shield academy because yknow she’s one of the best. Lila is 15 when they start. There’s gonna be a slow burn because reasons. 
> 
> Hope yall enjoy this one as much as the last one! Let me know your thoughts! 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“And you’re _definitely_ sure you want to go, звезда?” Her mom asks for the third time since they started packing her boxes. Her entire life from the past six years is being packed into three cardboard boxes, closed with extra strength duct tape so they’ll survive the Quinjet trip to Indiana. If she’d done this even two years ago, she’d probably have quaked the damn thing apart but she’s adjusted since then. 

“Yes, Mom. We always knew this was the deal.” And that’s kind of a lie but it’s the only way she’ll leave. The only reason Fury saved her and kept her around in the first place was to become an agent in the future. They saw her as an asset and would have treated her like one until her moms stepped in. Auntie Maria would never force her, but did encourage to sit the placement exams. Technically, she wasn’t supposed to go into the Academy until she was 16 or 17, but a lot of them were going in on advanced placement, due to the fact that they’d spent most of their childhoods in Junior SHIELD Academy, or in Lila’s case, was the child of a high ranking agent and could skip the process a little. 

“You don’t have to be an agent, Skye, not if you don’t want to.” They’ve had this conversation of course, multiple times since she was adopted, but it’s always the same answer. She owed SHIELD, she owed the world really, she has to prove that she was worth saving. She’s going to be SHIELD’s best agent and she’s going to enjoy it. 

“Mom, I want to do this. It’s not like I’ll be alone, I know most of the recruits. And it’s not like it’s Outer Mongolia, it’s Indiana, you and Mama can visit any time you want.” She hopes they will. Once upon a time, when she was five or six, she began promising herself to never get attached to people. All that brought her was hurt. But then there was a red head agent who had seen the horrors she’d seen and come out stronger and a blonde agent with a kind smile and eyes that told her she could trust this woman. They’d accepted all her baggage and her issues and loved her despite of all the trouble she must have caused. They gave her a family and a home. She owed them a lot and if she could repay that by making them proud then she’d do whatever she could. 

“I know, I’ll just miss you.” Mom admits and Skye smiles sadly, putting her head on her shoulder. She looks around her room, her first ever bedroom. She’s lived here since she was eight, when she was scared and broken and confused and lost. They rocked her to sleep in here, taught her control and love in here, hugged away her nightmares. The purple paint she splashed on the walls when she was nine is cracking slightly now but this is home and she still loves it. 

“I’m not leaving forever. I never could.” Skye says, tapping her finger to quell the slight panic that was looming in her chest at the thought of never coming back here. She doesn’t even remember where she picked up the tapping, she’s just always done it. Part of her ADHD apparently, something she was diagnosed with after the “Ward incident” as they called it nowadays. Suppressed ADHD from her Red Room days that she was now free to express freely. ADHD, PTSD, anxiety, and don’t forget those fun little abandonment and trust issues, just to complete the little jigsaw of her fucked up brain. 

“And we’ll always be here when you want to come home, baby.” Her mom says, hugging her sideways before refolding her Iron Man blanket she’s had for years at this point and placing it in her backpack, not her box, because her mom knows she’ll need it on the flight. 

She may hate her brain sometimes, but she’d gladly fight ten wars with those issues to keep the family they built up from the ground. It’s not forever, it’s just four years. Hell, she’s coming back for Thanksgiving and Christmas, she’s going to be just fine. 

“Я люблю тебя, мама.” (I love you, Mom.) She whispers and her mom smiles before taping the box up and handing her her Academy sweatshirt. Morse-Romanoff proudly emblazoned on the back. She’s got both Operations and Communications crests on the front because she couldn’t choose between them. She’s still got her mom’s and her mama’s as well, even though her Mama only went for like two months. 

“I love you too, Rockstar. C’mon, Nat’s waiting in the hangar.” Skye takes one last look at her childhood bedroom, silently saying ‘see you later’ to the old wooden floorboards and the bed and the glow in the dark stars. She’ll miss it, but she’s got a whole new adventure she needs to start.   
  


* * *

  
The foyer of SHIELD Academy is filled to bursting with people and it kind of sets her on edge. She’s never liked crowds. Too many people with too much noise and vibrations. It swirls around and around in her head and she has to tap out her need to run far away into her leg. 

“Lot of people.” Her Mama comments, sensing her hesitation. She slings an arm around Skye’s shoulders, letting her focus on just one person’s vibrations, calm and steady, instead of the overwhelming rushing of the crowds. She smiles gratefully and tightens her hold on her backpack. 

“There definitely wasn’t this many kids when I went to the Academy.” Her mom says and Uncle Clint, who seems to have appeared from nowhere nods.   
  
“They’ve combined the Academies since you went. It was easier to just have one big campus and let the students integrate without the massive rivalries.” Lila says, rolling her eyes. She didn’t like the noise either, Skye knew. Too hard on her ears. They could relate that way.

”Aww, that was always the best part!” Mom groans and the adults laugh whilst Lila and Skye exchange a look. Lila’s 15, and she’s not technically on advanced placement because she’ll be 16 in March. They’d applied together, even though Lila was only applying for Communications. They were hoping to share a dorm, along with Piper, considering they already all knew each other and were close. 

“Listen up for your dorm allocations!” Some young agent calls from the middle of the room on a microphone. Both Skye and Lila wince, high frequencies and loud noises assaulting them, their parents exchanging worried glances. 

“We’re gonna be fine, Dad. You know that.” Lila tells her father and Skye nods at her parents. They’re best friends, practically connected at the hip when they’re together, they’re going to be perfectly okay.

“We’re parents, Lilabug, let us worry.” Uncle Clint says, causing Lila to sigh exasperatedly. She’s wearing her Communications hoodie, Barton on the back in stark black letters. Skye can practically feel the looks of her peers and their parents on their backs, staring at the kids of these SHIELD legends. 

“Morse-Romanoff! Barton! Piper! Maximoff! Carter Dorm, Room 136!” The voice calls and Lila bumps Skye’s shoulder excitedly. They were sharing after all, and with Piper. She had no idea who Maximoff was but she was looking forward to it anyway. 

“Do you want us to come up with you?” Her Mama asks but they shake their heads. Skye knows if she lets them come up to the dorm, she might not let them leave. She hugs them instead, promising to call once a week unless they’re on mission and FaceTime on weekends. 

“Eat at least-“ 

“-two times a day.” She finished. 

“Nothing with-“ 

“-gluten unless I want to vomit and shit for a week.” 

“Gauntlets on-“ 

“-if my bones hurt.” 

“Take your-“ 

“-meds if school gets too stressful or whatever. Mom, I know, I’m gonna be fine.” Skye laughs. She can do this. She has to do this. 

“We love you, baby.” Her Mama tells her and she tries not to tear up, because it’s not like they’re just going on mission, she’s not going to see them till November. 

“Love you too.” She whispers, her old Russian twist in her accent creeping in. She’s never quite been able to shift it completely, and she kinda likes it anyway. A way to connect with her past, no matter how horrible it was, she likes the roots. 

“C’mon DJ! Let’s go find our dorm.” Piper comes running up to them, having already said goodbye to their parents. Their arms are full of posters and a duffle bag and Skye is already dreading the decorating process. 

“Call us if you need anything!” Uncle Clint calls at their retreating backs and Lila turns to give them one last wave. Skye knows her parents already know. 

* * *

Room 136, Carter Dorm is bigger than her room at the Playground, but smaller than the common room. She likes it immediately, there’s bunk beds along the walls which have always fascinated her, wooden chest of drawers and a bathroom in the corner. There’s windows which is a massive bonus, considering she spent most of her childhood in underground bunkers or facilities that did not allow for outside light. 

“Me and Zee will share the one on the left.” Lila informs Piper who nods and places their bags on the top bunk of the right set of bunk beds. 

“Shotgun the top bunk.” Skye calls and Lila shrugs, placing her suitcase on the bottom bunk. 

“Uh, sorry, am I in the right room?” A familiar accented (Sokovian, Skye’s tenth language) voice asks from the door. Skye whirls around and grins. 

“Wanda Maximoff? You never told me your last name!” She laughs and runs over to hug Wanda, her friend from last year. She’d been staying with Maria, her moms were away on missions, and SHIELD had found the Maximoff twins in some orphanage, both displaying powers and both a bit unstable. Auntie Maria had brought her in as a translator and as someone the twins could relate to. They’d all become friends and Wanda had mentioned something about the Academy but she’d had no idea they got in. 

“You know her, DJ?” Piper asks and and Lila sighs. 

“Daisy knows most people.” She smiles though and welcomes Wanda into the room, helping her with her duffle bag. 

“Pietro here too?” She barely even gets the words out when she hears a familiar male voice from the other side of the hallway. 

“Hey, girl!” Trip was her first ever friend her own age in SHIELD, before Lila and Cooper and Wanda. His mom was a part-time agent and his grandfather was a Howling Commando. He was in Ops too. 

“Trip! Who else is in there?” Skye crosses over the hall to their dorm, Fury Dorm, 137. It’s a carbon copy of her own, same bunk beds, same bathroom in the corner. She leans against the doorframe.

“Ah look, my favourite little assassin.” Davis calls from the top bunk of the left side. Piper and Davis were two of her favourite people, having met them in Junior Academy, their parents were retired agents at this point. The two of them and Trip were all 16 and in Ops. 

“This is Lincoln, he’s got powers too.” Trip introduces a sandy haired boy with an easy grin. He’s claimed the bottom bunk underneath Davis, placing a Pikachu toy on the pillow. 

“You’re an Inhuman?” Lincoln asks, smiling at her. She’s not met a lot of Inhumans, mainly just the ones on the Inhuman Index. She knows she went through Terrigenesis far too early in life but the Red Room weren't exactly big on child protection. 

“Yep, earthquake and vibration powers. You?” 

“Electricity.” He lights his fingers up blue and the light goes out before he flickers it back on. She grins at him. Yeah, they’re gonna be friends. 

“Skye!” And there’s Pietro, bleach blonde hair wild and eyes sparkling like they always were. She liked Pietro, he was easier to read than Wanda. She just had to be nice and friendly to him and he’d happily comply with his training for his powers. He was funny though, and great help on pranks. She liked both the twins. 

“Hey, Sonic.” 

“Hey Daisy! Come unpack!” Lila shouts her back through to their dorm and she gives the boys an apologetic look. She heads back across the hall and slides one of her blades along the tape. It takes a few tries but she gets it open eventually and takes out her books. 

“Why do you call her Daisy?” Wanda asks Lila. 

“It’s her birth name. Like how Piper calls her DJ, Daisy Johnson. She changed it, but she lets a couple of people call her her original name.” Lila explains and Wanda regards her with a strange look. 

“That’s kind of weird.” 

“I’m the queen of weird.” Skye laughs and throws her stuffed animals up on the bed. Hermione and Ana are her most loyal companions, the old spider and mockingbird gazing at her from her pillow. It was the first thing she ever chose in her life, the spider that made her mom laugh in the store. They’ve gone everywhere with her, she can’t remember sleeping without them since she was eight. 

“Can we go get dinner now? I’m starving.” Piper complains, looking at the map of the campus taped to their door. “We have to go all the way across the square to get to the cafeteria.” They whine.

“Great, we’ll be able to walk off all the calories they shove in those bread rolls.” Lila laughs. She didn’t grow up in SHIELD like Piper or Skye or Trip, but she went to Junior Academy for her last year before Comms Academy. Cooper didn’t want to go, he chose Stanford instead. Her dad was still stuck between being excited and disappointed that she chose to be an agent. 

“Can’t wait to see their coeliac options.” Skye groans. The choices were normally awful, lots of salad or just gluten free bread. She actually didn’t discover she was coeliac until she was brought to the US, probably because the Red Room barely fed them in the first place and they didn’t care if you had allergies. It was only when she started eating regular, healthy meals that they realised she was allergic to gluten. It was not a pleasant discovery. 

The four of them meet the boys outside their doors. Skye has an overwhelming feeling as Trip gives her a piggyback down the stairs and Lila links their pinkies under the table at dinner that this is going to be a very good thing. 


	2. The Birth of a Group Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast is a really chaotic affair in Lila’s opinion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This group chat is simultaneously the best and worst decision I’ve ever made. Fun to write, nightmare to format. I really hope this comes out okay. 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Breakfast is, in Lila’s opinion, the most chaotic affair she’s ever been in. And she’s ate breakfast with the Avengers.

To start with, Daisy defied the rule of ‘no sitting on the tables’ because they didn’t have gluten free bread. As Lila understood it, Daisy had issues with choice, she’d never been given it in the Red Room, so she hadn’t known how to deal with it when she was younger and she still struggled with it. Her moms had implemented the ‘rule of three’ for her, where she’d have to choose between three things to make it easier. For breakfast it was normally grilled cheese, toast or cereal. They didn’t have her favourite type of cereal and they didn’t have gluten free bread so she was kind of screwed. So, she’d pulled a protein bar from god knows where and sat on the table, her book bag on the chair instead. 

After that debacle, Davis and Piper had started an argument about the last chocolate muffin, Lincoln had started to flirt with one of the Sci-Tech kids, the Maximoff twins were teasing each other and Trip and her were deep in an argument about the upcoming prank war. 

“I’m telling you it’s better if we go as one big team!” He argued, taking a long drink from his cup of orange juice. She shook her head and forked a grape before answering. 

“And I’m saying that we’ll just become one big target. It’s easier if we go in smaller groups.” In truth, her and Daisy had been planning their pranks since the summer that Daisy spent at the farm after the “Ward incident” as she knew it. They’d spent hours in the grass as the sun set and plotted their way to win the war. Their plan had been updated every year, with the pranks growing in scale and effort. 

“But then we’ll be against each other! We can’t do that, we’re legacies!” Trip cried and Daisy swivelled mid-bite to stare at him. 

“I’m sorry, we’re what?” 

“That’s what the other kids and agents gave always called us. Legacies, cos our parents or whatever.” Trip explained and Daisy’s hands moved to pull out her phone. She had a Yuri On Ice!!! case on the back, a leftover from their anime phase last summer. She still had a My Hero Academia shirt somewhere in her suitcase. 

“Fantastic, we have a name for our group chat!” Daisy exclaimed, drawing the attention of the rest of the table. Wanda and Pietro exchanged a confused glance, whilst Piper and Davis just rolled their eyes. 

“Another one? Wasn’t the Junior Academy one enough, DJ?” Piper groaned. Lila had only been added to that group chat in the last year but it was quite possibly, the most enjoyable part of the year, besides hanging out with Daisy everyday. 

“We’re not at the Junior Academy anymore! There’s more people here so we need a new one.” Daisy argued, and ten seconds later their phones all pinged with the same group message. 

Little Legacies

>>quakingbad: wassup bitches

”Its going to be worse than the last one then.” Piper groaned. Daisy’s nicknames were notoriously outrageous for people in group chats. Poor Camden Bridges had been stuck with littletraitor all year because she told the teacher where the kids were hiding during a school wide game of hide and seek that had lasted ten hours. No one could find them in the trees apparently. 

“Oh come on! It’ll be easier to talk to each other now without shouting across the hall.” Daisy said, eating the last of her protein bar in one bite. She’s wearing a worn Slipknot shirt and black leggings with her old yellow Vans. Daisy had gone through a massive emo phase and still wasn’t quite all the way out, so the metal shirts stayed. 

“As long as you don’t start sending memes at half four in the morning again.” Davis warned but he was smiling. 

“Hey, Zee, we’d better go. We’re gonna be late for math.” Lila said and Daisy groaned. Daisy might be freakishly good at equations, but no one enjoyed math. Lila was dreading it, even if Uncle Bruce had sent her the syllabus that was being taught. 

“Bye, little shits, see you later.” Daisy said as she slid off the table and grabbed her bag. The group murmured their goodbyes and they got a confused look from Wanda and Pietro, who were very far behind in pop culture and didn’t quite understand that Daisy meant it as a term of endearment. Which reminded her of Daisy herself when she first met her. 

Their phones ping when they enter the classroom, sliding into two seats near the middle of the room.

Little Legacies 

>>howlingwolf: the twins haven’t seen   
Pulp Fiction!!!! 

>>scarletwitch: it wasn’t very popular in  
Sokovia 

>>quakingbad: this is an outrage we’re   
watching it tonight 

“Daisy you’re not even old enough to watch it.” Lila laughed, opening her composition book. God knows why they still needed to take math and English but apparently, they needed A’s in both to progress to next year. 

“Mama showed me it last summer, therefore it’s not my fault. And everyone should see it at least once.” Daisy rolled her eyes and pulled a throwing blade out of her waistband, which she carried because...yeah, Lila still didn’t know. “Think anyone would freak out if I just threw this at the wall?” 

“Yes, Mini Widow, I think they would.” 

“Cool.” Daisy grinned and that was how their math teacher was nearly decapitated and Daisy spent her first lunch of the school year in detention writing “I will not throw knives in class.” 100 times. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trip is howlingwolf btw


	3. Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On bad days, she wants to run ten miles, beat up a punching bag and speak Russian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I both love and hate this chapter. 
> 
> Please let me know if I’m portraying Skye’s ADHD right because I’m going off google, my own experiences and other fics. 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Today is a bad day.

Skye’s been at the Academy for nearly two weeks, and it’s been fairly plain sailing. The workload is heavy, her training is intensive, they didn’t have gluten-free bread or pasta for a full week, and her math teacher hates her because she nearly got hit with her knife on the first day. Other than that, it’s been fine. 

But not today. Today she can’t concentrate on anything, words and vibrations and sounds completely overload her senses and she feels like she’s working on autopilot. Today she wants to run ten miles, beat a punching bag and speak only in Russian. 

Today is just a bad day. 

So, as soon as class is over for the day she completely abandons her homework she could barely even understand over the pounding in her head and the distractions of everything around her, and heads for the dorm to change into athletic leggings and a sports bra. She slides on her running shoes, shoves in some earphones and plays the loudest, heavy metal she can find to drown out everything else and grabs her “bad day” backpack. 

She keeps this backpack so she doesn’t need to waste time. She keeps water, spare earphones, a leotard and tights and her pointe shoes in here. It means that when she has a bad day, she can run, then go straight to the studio to dance out her issues as well. 

She heads out the door and braids her hair as she walks, zoning into the heavy beats of Vysteria by Night Demon. Briefly, she considers taking a Ritalin before she leaves the building, so it’ll kick in before she starts her homework later on, but decides against it in favour of a five mile run around campus.   
  
She zones into the feeling of the concrete under her feet, the steady vibration it gives off and the blaring music, the world falling into background noise. She feels heavy like the very cement under her feet but she keeps running and eventually, eight miles instead of five later, she feels calmer, so she heads for the studio.   
  


* * *

One of Lila’s favourite things to do is watch Daisy dance. 

They’d agreed to do the math homework together tonight, because Lila was truly awful at quadratics, no matter how hard Uncle Bruce helped her to understand them, but Daisy wasn’t in the dorm or the library or the cafeteria, so Lila went looking. 

Of course she’d noticed that Daisy wasn’t fully there today. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused, she was tense and uncomfortable and she didn’t miss the way her finger tapped the desk throughout the entirety of math and English. 

And then she’d disappeared after class and didn’t come to dinner so Lila figured she was having a bad day and went for a run. Her sneakers and her backpack were gone when Lila returned to the dorm so therefore, she was running and then going to the studio. 

Daisy was intoxicating when she danced, fluid motions and rhythmic moves to Tchaikovsky that made Lila’s insides set alight. It was like watching water dance, mesmerising and beautiful and everything Lila wished she was. 

She’s not jealous of Daisy. Daisy is far too likeable for that. She is not jealous because the girl is a walking angst train and more often than not, there’s a dark storm in her head Lila will never understand. 

But she wishes she had Daisy’s confidence. The girl is one of those girls you can’t help but love. 

So, no. Lila is not jealous of Skye Daisy Morse-Romanoff. 

She’s in love with her. 

And that’s horribly terrifying because Daisy will probably never love her back, not in the way she wants. They’re best friends and she’s not she’d ever want to compromise that with telling her she loves her. 

So instead, she’ll watch Daisy dance and try to ignore the way her heart clenches when Daisy eyes catch in the light and there’s golden reflected in those chocolate brown eyes she’s fallen for. She’ll watch Daisy pirouette and leap and twirl, all the moves sheer perfection from years of practice and pain. She’ll watch from a distance and remember why she cannot touch. 

“Earth to Daisy?” She calls, the girl in front whirling around on pointe, the music reaching a crescendo and her eyes are closed. She doesn’t even know Lila’s here, she’s trapped in her own world. 

“Daisy!” She shouts and Daisy’s head snaps to attention, scared and afraid of what is coming. Shit, Lila forgot. When Daisy was practicing on bad days, you weren’t supposed to shout on her. Too much like the Red Room. Guilt creeps into her stomach but Daisy catches herself and smiles softly. 

“Hey, butterfly.” Her accent is more Russian than normal, the way it does when she’s tired or sad. The music fades to a much softer melody, Cinderella or Rapunzel, and the world centres to the two of them just like it always does. 

“You okay?” 

Daisy smiles a smile that tells her that she’s not at all okay, but that she’s got a handle on it. Lila hates that smile but she can’t really do anything right now.

”Wanna go get slushies?” Daisy asks, padding over to the speaker to turn off the music. 

“It’s nine p.m.” Lila deadpans, but Daisy rolls her eyes. 

“Since when have we ever cared about curfew? I’ll text the Legacies, see if anyone wants anything brought in from the outside.” 

“It’s not prison, Zee.” Lila giggles, handing Daisy a shirt from her bag. She knew Daisy didn’t have one, and she knew the right one to grab. The Captain America shirt Daisy was given her first ever Christmas, after Coulson “died”. It’s kinda weird that Daisy likes this shirt so much, considering they’ve shared meals and weeks with Steve Rogers. But it’s her “bad day” shirt, and Lila can’t really judge. She’s still got her baby blanket. 

“Thanks for coming to get me.” Daisy whispers, drawing her into a hug. Lila’s breath catches, she squashes down the hope that blooms in her chest. 

Daisy is only fourteen and she’s fifteen, it’s not going to happen. Daisy is leather and smoke and throwing knives, Lila’s an Idaho farm and pastel and soft music. Daisy is going to be a superhero, she’s heading for a command role. 

So, no matter how many flirty glances Daisy exchanges with her over their red slushies and no matter how well their hands slot together under the blanket when they watch The Breakfast Club, (had Wanda and Pietro seen _any_ movies?), she will forget her crush. 

_Skye wishes she could say the same._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, I know I said slow burn and I swear it is, but Skye and Lila already know they love each other. Are in love with each other. They’re just take a long time to admit it.


	4. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of how Robbie Reyes joined the Little Legacies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg this chapter is angsty I’m sorry. 
> 
> WARNINGS: past child abuse, Red Room, self loathing 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

It is an understatement to say that Skye doesn’t understand emotions. Especially her own. Her entire childhood from ages two to eight was neglect of feeling. She was taught to be marble, stone, cement. Widow’s do not feel, Widow’s do not care. 

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that that’s all bullshit. She’s been out of their control for six years, but sometimes, she just doesn’t know how to function like a normal human. 

Dr Garner explained to her when she was ten that she might always feel that way. She was conditioned and abused to believe that she was a cold, unfeeling killing machine. Some days will be harder than others to remember that she isn’t. She asked her Mama if she felt that way and Mama looked at her sadly. 

“It’s hard to remember who Natasha is, when Natalia is always there too.” Skye understood that. Daisy was like Natalia, ruthless and unstoppable. 

Daisy was a killer, a good one. Had she been left in the Red Room, she would have been better than the Black Widow. She would have been Quake, the assassin with powers to tear continents apart. And she would have _liked_ it. 

Nights like this are when it’s hardest to remember that she’s Skye, not Daisy. She had a nightmare, something about the isolation box, and she had to run. She’d made it to the other side of campus, to the lake at the edge of the gates. When the campus was first built, the students used to come down here all the time, according to her Mom, and play water polo or go skinny dipping in the summer. Now, it’s kinda been forgotten about. The weeds are overgrown and jungle-like, the water is cloudy and dirty, the fence surrounding it is broken. 

She’s never liked lakes, not since Madame threw them in the lake when the snow melted in spring in Russia and it was either sink or swim. But she thinks she could learn to like this one. 

“Bit late for swimming.” A voice startled her and she pushes away the urge to draw her knife. Not a threat, she reminds herself. Just a kid who probably couldn’t sleep just like her. 

“Just out for a run.” She says, twisting around to see who she was talking to. She recognises his face, he’s in her English class. He always wears a leather jacket and gloves, and he always looks pissed off with the world. She thinks she’s met a kindred spirit. 

“It’s half four in the morning.” He deadpans and she rolls her eyes. 

“What’s your excuse?” She counters, if he was just going to mock her, she’d gladly teach her a lesson. A lot of the new Ops kids had underestimated her, thinking she’d only gotten in because of her moms, but then she’d won every single sparring match, beat the obstacle course records and took first position on the leaderboard. 

She also liked to carry knives and speak in angry Russian when someone pissed her off, so, no one really wanted to mess with her after that. 

“Demon in my head said it was time to take a walk.” Seriously? He was going with the possessed thing? Jesus, did she attract crazy, the twins were enough. 

“Got a name, demon boy?” He might be nuts, but she thinks she likes him. Maybe he could tell her where he got his leather gloves, she was tired of people asking about her bruises from her powers. 

“Robbie Reyes. Don’t need to ask yours though, you’re a legend round here.” His tone was teasing and she sighed. Of course she knew that people treated her and Lila differently because of their parents. They were either terrified to piss them off for fear of Strike Team Delta’s or Mockingbird’s wrath, or they tested them to see if they actually deserved to be here. It pissed her off, she’d worked her fucking ass off to be as good as she was, whether it was in the Red Room or at home. 

“Glad to know I’ve got a reputation.” 

“Yep, everyone’s terrified of the tiny fourteen year old with the scary Russian assassin as a mother.” His eyes were brown, but there was a fire within them that wasn’t natural. She wasn’t too scared, she knew plenty of people with powers. Wanda’s eyes went red when she used her powers, he could be enhanced that way. 

“Good, they should be.” She looked at her phone for the time and saw that half an hour had passed since the start of their conversation. She had to get back to the dorm before six if she wanted to avoid the confrontation about her nighttime strolls. 

“I don’t think you’re that scary though.” He seemed honest. His eyes seemed to have softened, like he’d seen something in her that suggested she wasn’t capable of killing him in two hundred and seven different ways. She didn’t like that. 

“And I don’t think you’ve got a demon in your head but here we are.” 

He chuckled darkly and she considered him briefly, because he had this air about him that screamed darkness. Maybe it was his brooding nature or maybe it was the way he smelled like flames and burnt flesh, but she was intrigued by it. 

“You’d better get back to your dorm. Can’t have the Little Widow late for class.” She scoffed and jumped off the fence she’d been sitting on, landing without a sound. 

“You too, Reyes. The demon in your head might get mad if you miss Callahan’s introduction to Gatsby.” He flashed her a grin and she rolled her eyes, zipping up the hoodie she’d barely remembered to shove on before she left. He turned to her before they parted ways and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“You should know, the people who hurt you are rotting in hell.” All the oxygen was sucked out of her lungs when he said that. She already knew that the trainers and leaders of the Red Room were dead, hell, she’d even killed one of them herself before she was freed, and Ward was cremated long before she was even allowed back into her own bed. But how in the fuck did Robbie know about that. Her childhood wasn’t public knowledge, she didn’t want people thinking of her like a monster, even if that was what she was destined to become all those years ago. 

“How the fuck do you know that?” Her tone is cold and menacing and Robbie actually winces and takes a step back. It’s only when he steps away that she realises she’s holding a blade to his chest. It’s been a long time since she threatened someone like this, the power in her hands, in that knife, still terrifies her but she won’t let him see that. 

“I just do. I just thought you would have liked to know they’re paying for what they did.” 

“You have no idea what they did, it’s none of your business.” She hisses and tries to fight back tears. She will not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry, she’s better than that. 

“I know a broken person when I see one, chica, and if I can help that then I will.” Shit, he’d said it. She knew she had issues, she didn’t think they were that fucking obvious. A memory of a cane on her back flashes before she lets the tears leak out. 

“ _ты будешь мраморным, дрожащим, ты не разобьешься_.” _(You will be marble, Quake, you will not break.)_ _Madame shouted, striking her again when she wobbled during ballet. Her feet were blistered and cracked, her toes were fractured. She will not break. She will not break. She will not break.  
_

”You know nothing about me.” She chokes out and then she runs, fast and hard, her feet hitting the concrete harder than she’s ever done but the sharp pains remind her that she’s breathing, not fucking marble, and that Madame is dead. 

She collapses in her bed as soon as she reaches the dorm, sprinting up the ladder and hiding under the duvet, crying silently into her hands. She hears movement from under her and figures Lila is rolling over, but then there’s someone in her bed and someone is pulling the sheets back. 

“Estás bien, cariño, déjalo salir.” (You’re okay, honey, let it out.) Lila whispers into her ear and she lets herself be gathered into Lila’s arms. She sobs into her chest, her finger tapping rapidly against the sheets as she tries to calm herself down. She’s just glad nothing is shaking. 

“Het spijt me.” (I’m sorry.) Skye eventually whispers in Dutch, the language they learned together three years ago. Lila shakes her head fondly and gives her another hug. 

“C'est bon, Daisy” (It’s okay, Daisy.) And she knows it’s not, but Lila won’t ever judge or even ask about this, because she’s witnessed enough of Skye’s breakdowns to know there’s no point in asking. It’s one of the reasons she loves her so much. 

“This is all very touching but can you both either speak in English or go back to sleep? It’s literally half six in the morning.” Piper grumbled from their bed across the room and Skye and Lila giggled. 

Later, Robbie gave her an apologetic look in English when she showed up with a blotchy face and tired eyes but she gave him a smile. They exchanged numbers and somehow, he ended up sitting with them at lunch. 

And that is how the Legacies gained yet another member. 


	5. Scarlet Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Wanda wishes her powers were more like Skye’s or Pietro’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a fun little kinda angsty Wanda and Skye chapter. 
> 
> WARNINGS: red room, nightmares, past child abuse
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! -bex xx

Wanda dreams in red, swirling masses, hulking figures that terrify her. She does not understand her dreams. She doesn’t wish to either. 

Sometimes she wishes her powers were different. Maybe more like Skye’s, or Pietro’s, something elemental or speed based than mental. Because sometimes she can’t control it and she can see into other people’s dreams, rather than her own confusing ones. She hates that more than anything. 

Piper above her dreams dumb kid stuff, at least she thinks it’s dumb kid stuff, American kids were different to Sokovian. They dream of soccer matches and going on missions and a girl called Callie. There’s the occasional nightmare about their parents not coming home from a mission but that’s about as bad as it gets.

Lila Barton dreams a lot like her brother. Like Pietro, she dreams of mountain ranges and freedom. Of riding a horse along a narrow expanse of land and not stopping when she reaches a gap, the horse flying over the steep fall until she lands perfectly safe. Her nightmares are also linked to her parents, her dad not coming home, her mother being shot, her brothers being kidnapped. Strangely, Lila dreams of Skye more often than not, dancing in a wooden studio to soft music and stars, or Skye bloody and beaten, ripping a man’s throat out with her bare hands. Those dreams terrify Wanda. 

The main reason she wishes her powers were different was Skye. 

Skye’s dreams are not dreams, they are flashbacks with bonus features. Skye dreams of a facility in Russia, a frozen lake and a girl called Arina. They skate on the lake, perfectly content and speaking in a language Wanda doesn’t understand until a woman on the edge shouts something angry and the dream changes. Arina’s throat is slit open and Skye stands with a bloody skate blade, hands coated in blood. Skye’s dreams are horrifying and Wanda wishes she could take away that pain. 

She bolts up one night after accidentally tapping into Skye’s head, seeing a man with a white lab coat stand over her with a needle the length of a pencil, reciting words in what she thinks was German. She woke up when the needle was plunged into her arm and she was falling farther and farther away from Skye and back into Daisy, into Quake...

”Were you in my head?” Skye says, dangerously low from the other side of the room. Her face is streaked with tears and she’s shaking. There’s a heavy bracelet around Skye’s left wrist and Wanda can vaguely remember a metal bed in a cold room, with handcuffs on her left wrist in Skye’s dreams. 

She’s immediately filled with guilt because whilst her and Skye are close, this is an invasion of privacy. Skye was cagey about her past, only Lila knew even the barest details of what happened in her childhood. Wanda didn’t like to pry, she just couldn’t help it when she was asleep. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it.” She admits softly, and Skye’s face changes from angry to sad in seconds. 

“Come on, we’ll go for a walk.” She’s already up and out of bed and Wanda’s still wondering how she got there that fast when she’s being handed her jacket and a pair of boots.

They're still in their pajamas as they head up the stairs of the dorms and out onto the roof. Technically, they’re not supposed to be up here but Skye has never been one for rules. Skye hasn’t said a word and is sitting on the edge of the roof, her feet dangling into the black void beneath them. For once, she looks her age. A small, fourteen year old sitting on a roof in her Iron Man pajamas with a leather jacket over the top to keep herself warm. Wanda’s only just realised she’s not wearing shoes. 

“I know you’ve wondered about my scars.” Skye says eventually, catching Wanda off guard. Of course she’s wondered, the girl had scars all across her arms, thick lashes on her back and stomach, permanent bruising on her arms. Wanda wasn’t one to ask, but she was curious.

”I don’t see what this has to do with me looking in your head, which I’m really sorry about-“ Skye holds up a hand to silence her and Wanda complies, clenching her jaw. Skye inhaled and exhaled a couple of times, staring at the ground below them.

”The things you see, whether you want to or not, it’s why I have all these scars, therefore, you should know what from. I was in the Red Room when I was younger, until SHIELD found me and then HYDRA broke out and me and my mom got kidnapped. Got a ton more then and nearly got brainwashed. I just thought you should have some context to why I got so defensive. I shouldn’t have snapped like that, so I’m sorry.” Skye explained it in a monotone voice that terrified Wanda. She’d learned about the Red Room online when she was trying to find out who took her and Pietro from Sokovia and experimented on them, but they were defunct by the time they were kidnapped. She remembered seeing pictures and files from the place on the deep web, some kid in the orphanage had managed to get her on there, and it scared her. If Skye had gone through that, then it was testimony to how strong she was. 

“I still shouldn’t have looked into your head. Thank you for telling me though.” She said and Skye shook her head fondly.

”I know you didn’t mean it. Just maybe try to stay out of mine? You’re really not going to like what you find in there.” Skye warned and Wanda had to wonder just how badly things were for Skye growing up. The pictures and scars barely scratched the surface of what happened there. What else was Skye hiding away with sarcasm and incredible fighting skills? 

“It is much nicer in Piper’s dreams.” Wanda giggled softly and Skye smiled, running her fingers along the edge of the rooftop. 

“Is there anything you can do to keep out of people’s heads?” Skye asked, twisting the bracelet around her wrist. Her eyes were flitting in nine different directions and Wanda knew it was far too early for her to be able to focus on any one thing. 

“When I first got my powers, they had these inhibitors when we slept, in case we were spying during the night.” Wanda suggested. 

“Absolutely not. I used to have inhibitors, those things were god awful. Could you not, like train your powers to stay out of people’s heads like you do during the day?” 

“Maybe. Meditation always used to work, I could try that again.” Wanda said and Skye smiled, squeezing her hand lightly. 

“I appreciate it. There’s some stuff in my head that people just shouldn’t have to see.” Skye turned back to edge and stared into the blackness, her voice low and sad. Wanda felt an immediate rush of sadness for the girl, no matter how well adjusted she was now, she was clearly still struggling with things in her past. 

“If you ever wanted to talk about it...” 

“You too.” Skye said. “Do you wanna go back to bed?” 

“I think I actually have a paper I need to finish.” Wanda said and Skye laughed before standing and offering her hand. She pulled Wanda to her feet and they started walking back down to the dorm. 

“I swear I didn’t have this much homework in Junior Academy.” 

“I guess that happens when you enrol in two Academies at once.” Wanda teased and Skye unlocked the door. Wanda settled back in bed with her laptop, whilst Skye went into the bathroom, emerging five minutes later in leggings and a blue SHIELD shirt, with Romanoff on the back. Must be her mothers. 

“I’m gonna hit the gym whilst there’s no one there. I’ll see you at breakfast?”

”I’d say I’ll save you a seat but you sit on the table most days, so I’ll see you there.” Wanda said and Skye gave her a middle finger before sliding on her running shoes and grabbing her backpack.

”You're really going to beat up a punching bag at this time.” Lila grumbled when she woke due to their voices. Piper mumbled something intelligible above them but went back to sleep. Skye sighed fondly and pressed a kiss to Lila’s forehead. 

“Go back to sleep, butterfly. I’ll be back for breakfast.” She whispered and Lila complied. Wanda had noticed just how close they were, like her and Pietro but there was a slight tension. Like there was something both of them knew, but would never admit to each other. 

“Thanks for everything, Skye.” Wanda said before Skye left and Skye smiled, shouldering her bag and leaving her bracelet under her pillow.

”Anytime.” 


	6. Capture the Flag(part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye can go a little overboard with planning sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some backstory and the planning of the Capture the Flag game. Including some hints to how other people view Skye and her past, with some fluffy friends bonding. 
> 
> No WARNINGS I think. Let me know though! 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“So, are Strike Team Junior gracing us with their presence?” Davis asked once they’d all congregated in the boys dorm. 

It was the middle of October and the most exciting part of the year, besides Christmas and the exam missions at the end of the year if you were in Ops. The school-wide game of Capture the Flag had just been announced, along with team captains and flag colours. 

As an encouragement to the other kids and a prize to the ones working well in class, the kids at the tops of the leaderboards in each year and Academy were chosen as team leaders. Each Academy had four year groups, four groups in each year. The team in each year group that managed to collect all four flags by the end of the night were granted access to the inter-year game, where the winners would play against each other.

Skye was captain of the Legacies team, as she was top of Ops and Comms leaderboards, with Lila as her second in command. Some of the Ops rookies were mad that she was doing so well, probably because she was younger than all of them, and sought out to beat her in the game. Tyler Forther, in particular seemed to have it out for her, being second on the Ops leaderboard. His team only consisted of kids in Ops, unlike Skye’s team, that was much more diverse.

Skye was Ops and Comms, Lila was Comms, Piper, Davis, Trip and Robbie were Ops, Lincoln and the twins were in the Sci-Tech/enhanced program, with Wanda taking self-defence lessons from Skye at the weekends. Therefore, they covered all bases and could call in favours for their plan of attack from all sorts of places. 

“I believe they should be dropping in soon...” And as soon as Piper started to speak, Skye and Lila dropped from the vent above them, Skye dropping without a sound and Lila with a heavier thump because unfortunately, not everyone could be brought up by Russian spies. 

“Okay, I have a plan and it involves Lincoln flirting with Joey, glitter, the lake, the vents and a rewatch of Saw 4, who’s ready for a night of fun?” Skye said when she’d helped Lila off the floor and onto one of the beanbags they’d procured for the evening. Everyone looked at each other exasperatedly. Skye always had the best ideas, but they were always a lot harder in execution when you weren’t raised by a two terrifying spies and brought up in a Russian training facility. 

“Must we watch Saw again? It’s really rather gory.” Wanda complained softly, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement. Skye had a thing for gory movies, though she often complained they weren’t accurate enough. Robbie could usually stomach them but he’d held off after they watched all three Human Centipede movies in a row. 

“We just need to watch one of the traps.” Skye said, energy dimming slightly when she saw how unenthusiastic every else was about the plans for the night. 

“Why the hell do we need to use one of the traps from Saw? We’re not actually killing people Skye.” Trip said, and Skye rolled her eyes. 

“Thanks Captain Obvious, but we weren’t actually going to put anyone in the traps. It’s just a fear tactic to put people off where the flag actually is.” Skye explained but the group still looked wary. 

“And why do I need to flirt with Joey? He doesn’t even like me.” Lincoln complained, but the entire group gave him an incredulous look. Everyone had seen the way the two fawned over each other in the library when they were studying biology together. 

“He’s on Hodge’s team, he might let something slip if he had an incentive.” Lila explained and Skye nodded. Power in persuasion, fifth rule of espionage. 

“That’s...actually rather smart.” Lincoln sighed. “I’ll do it.” 

“Fantastic. Okay I have diagrams of our distraction trap, map of the campus with everyone’s routes, attack plans, list of favours to call in with Sci-Tech...” Skye listed off, pulling a massive wad of paper from her backpack. 

“You’re in two Academies at one time, how the hell did you have time for all this?” Davis asked incredulously. There had to be weeks of work in there. The trap was elaborately detailed and notated, it must have taken her a month at least to come up with all this. 

“Русские не спят.” (Russians don’t sleep.) Skye grinned, much to the confusion of everyone else. She was the only one who spoke fluent Russian, with Wanda speaking the tiniest amount and Lila still on basics. 

“What she means by whatever she just said is that she got hyper-fixated on the project and used every bit of free time to complete her master plan.” Lila sighed. Skye stuck her tongue out at her, but there was laughter in her eyes. They all knew that Skye tended to fixate on certain things for a period of time. It was how she knew so many languages, she’d go through periods where she’d only learn that language and be mostly fluent within three or four months. They suspect it was handy in the Red Room too, but they didn’t like to bring it up. 

“Can we take a snack break?” Pietro asked before Skye started handing out jobs. Wanda giggled and poked him in the stomach.

”Do you ever think of anything but your stomach?” She teased and he feigned hurt. Skye threw him a bag of gummy worms and he nodded his thanks. 

“I filtered in snack breaks to everyone’s schedules for the game.” She told them. 

“Apart from your own.” Lila said gently, and Skye shrugged guiltily. 

“I’m heading into enemy camp, I don’t have time for snacks. Don’t need the sugar rush on top of the adrenaline rush either.” They all knew she was an adrenaline junkie anyway, it’s why she went running so much and used the training simulator that Agent Fitz had created, The Framework, to train. She was a bit of a training nut, but that was something they should probably all adopt if they wanted to be good agents. Skye just kinda took it to extremes. 

“It’s not a war Skye, it’s just a game.” Lila had taken it upon herself to be the moderator for the game, as she was second in command. She was second on the Comms leaderboard but since they wanted to be on the same team, they’d just decided on basic co-leadership. It wasn’t an easy job by any means, Skye had a tendency to work long into the night and completely miss the outside world, rejecting things like sleeping and eating. Lila had to physically drag her to the dinner table sometimes, often coupled with “this is totally barbaric” and “I’ll have you know, I’ve killed people for less”, which was normal banter in their houses. It also meant she had to wrangle the others to their posts and ensure they stayed there on the night, whilst Skye, Piper and Trip went after the other flags. 

“Not in my experience.” Skye said quietly and a lull fell over the room, before Skye brightened and threw a bag of jelly beans at Davis who caught them appreciatively and they fell back into their planning. 

They all saw Skye’s finger tapping at the speed of lightning against the hardwood floor. Sometimes it was easy to forget about Skye’s history when she smiled and threw out some witty line, but it was always there, they could tell. 

“You really think first years will win this year? They haven’t won since...ever.” Trip sighed. His cousin, Sharon Carter, had already explained that first years never had any hope against the older years, normally fourth years won. More training, more experience. But the room was thrumming with an excited energy and Skye nodded determinedly.

”Definitely. No other first year groups had this many Legacies, nor the kids of Strike Team fucking Delta. We’re going to win this year, I can feel it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know if I made it very clear but there are only four groups per year group.


	7. Capture the Flag(part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A game is played.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay fave chapter so far? It’s so cute but it took forever to plan those fricking traps omg 
> 
> WARNINGS: light violence and predatory behaviour, tiny mention of torture 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Finally, it reached 5pm on Friday the 17th of October and the game began. 

Skye’s plan was honestly a work of genius, with Lila’s input and some favours called in from Sci-Tech for extra strong glue, glow in the dark paint and the room silencer prototype they had been working on. 

The plan was simple enough, but effective. Wanda and Lincoln had to protect their team’s purple flag in the old boathouse on the lake, whilst Robbie and Pietro protected the decoy flag in the bell tower on the other end of campus. The decoy flag was dark blue, therefore if one of the other teams got past Pietro and Robbie _and_ the fake Saw trap, which was very loosely based off the Knife Chair, they wouldn’t have won anything. The keys to a locked box with the decoy flag were in the centre of the room in the tower, tied to a string above a chair with fake knives attached to it. The knives wouldn’t do any harm, but they were realistic enough to scare off anyone who couldn’t tell the difference between plastic and steel from a distance. That whole contraption didn’t really matter anyway, it was just to help Wanda and Lincoln protect the real flag. 

Meanwhile, Piper was sent off to the gym, where Hodge’s team had hidden their green flag, according to Joey, who Lincoln had shamelessly flirted with until he was a blushing mess and apparently, whispered it to Lincoln whilst they were making out. The less they knew about that, the better. 

Piper had slipped into the gym undetected, as Hodge wasn’t as smart at planning operations as Skye and Lila and decided to only keep one guard stationed at the flag, whilst he sent the other to find the flags. Piper easily dropped in using the vents, thanks to Skye’s incredible detailed map, and taken the guard out, leaving him covered in glitter and tied to the bench press. They grabbed the flag and sent an encoded message to Lila, who was overseeing all of their individual tasks from her laptop, as they’d asked Sci-Tech very nicely for some trackers. They slipped back out the way they’d came in and headed for the safe zone, where teams could send members once they’d won a flag to avoid injuries if stealing occurred on the way back. Mission accomplished. 

Davis’ target was much the same, Taylor’s team were mostly Sci-Tech and whilst they all had brilliant minds when it came to science and academics, their operation planning could use some luck. Their team had hidden their red flag in one of the chemistry labs, hidden in a box of lab coats. They’d left three guards stationed there but Davis easily distracted them with a glitter bomb, (Skye refused to tell them where she’d gotten the idea, but they’d all came to the conclusion that she’d used _real_ bombs to do just this once upon a time), and whilst they were confused, used the extras strength glue to stick their shoes to the floor, rendering them immobile whilst he grabbed their flag and bolted out the door. 

It was an unspoken rule of Capture the Flag at SHIELD that you fought dirty. Whilst you couldn’t fight to maim or kill obviously, fighting was allowed. As long as no one was injured too badly, they’d overlook it and probably give you extra points. Apparently, they’d had to ban Strike Team Delta from playing altogether when they were stationed here briefly, because they’d traumatised half the recruits with their incredibly realistic fake bomb they’d planted to protect their flag, causing some first years to call in a bomb threat. Also it was Strike Team fucking Delta, no one went against them and won. 

Which meant that Skye and Lila had a lot to live up to, especially since Skye’s other parent was Bobbi Morse, renowned agent and one of the Academies finest in her time. All eyes were on the Legacies this year, which meant they had to win, by any means necessary. 

Trip’s target was slightly harder as Norad had actually rubbed some braincells together and come up with an elaborate obstacle course to go through before you reached his yellow flag on the football field. However, Trip was fourth in their Ops class, only just being beaten by Forther and Wellington, as Norad was Comms, and Skye was miles ahead of any of them, so he didn’t really mind. He sailed through the course, easily taking out the five Comms agents with the incredibly mild Icer’s they used when training. It was enough to knock them out for about five minutes so he had to be quick. He grabbed the flag and hightailed it out of there, suddenly thankful for all the track his granddad and mother insisted he do as a child. He reached the safety zone and saw that Piper and Davis were there too. They’d won regardless of Skye getting Forther’s flag, but he knew that was a more personal goal of her’s. 

Across the campus, Skye was silently scaling the drainpipe on the side of the building that housed the library and archives room, as well as the Aunt Maria’s office, considering she was the Director of the Academy. Forther had thought that since he used a private group chat to organise his operation that it would be secret, but Skye can hack just about anything, much to Uncle Tony’s annoyance when she beats him in contests, and WhatsApp groups are incredibly easy. 

Her phone vibrates as she reaches the balcony of the library, knowing that Forther was hiding his flag inside the library in a safe with four guards, including himself. Fun. 

Little Legacies 

>>JRrobinhood: flags retrieved, bird still   
safe, just you now SD

>>quakingbad: well done guys! I’ll be   
done soon 

Ensuring her gauntlets were firmly strapped on and her knives were in place, because Forther played dirty and was a vindictive asshole who seemed to constantly want to test her, she slipped in the window. Relying on her training to make no sound, she crawled along the top of the bookshelves, trying not to breathe in the dust on top. No one had noticed her presence yet, Forther was talking with Rossini about some soccer game last weekend, and Graves and Lewis were talking about girls and boys they liked so no one was paying attention to the shadows on the wall. 

She slid off the bookshelf and made sure to drop silently, quaking just that little bit that she cushioned her landing to silence the fall. The idiots were all facing on direction, toward the door at the entrance of the library, so none of them saw her run down the stairs behind them. The safe was in the middle of their circle so she was going to have to fight at least two of them, if not all of them, but she’d been beating them for weeks when sparring, she could do this. She was a Morse-Romanoff, this was practice for her. 

“Hey boys, am I late to the party?” She said teasingly, the boys all whirling around to face her. She stepped into the light, and tried to ignore Forther’s up and down of her body, focusing on her chest. Fucking bastard was always creepy, despite being seventeen years old. 

“Well, if it isn’t the Little Widow. Come to join the dark side?” Forther snarked and Skye rolled her eyes. He’d been calling her that since they met the first day of Ops, even after the combined glares of her, Trip, Piper, Davis and Robbie. He was obsessed with her Mama, consistently asking if she taught Skye _everything_ , which was just fucking creepy. 

“Couldn’t let you have all the fun, could I? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe you’re standing in front of the safe I need.” She said, and the two boys closest to her circled back. She focused her energies on the boys vibrations, using a sort of echolocation to ensure she knew where they were. She was alone here, she knew the dangers of that. 

“Now, now, baby Romanoff. You know we can’t let that happen.” Forther had a manic gleam in his eye that terrified her to no end. It was too much like the trainers in the Red Room, the ones that specialises in training them to survive torture. Kuznetsov had that exact same glint when he held her underwater. 

“You know I do have another mom. You never seem to mention her.” She said casually as Graves advanced on her. She easily caught his hand reaching for her neck and threw him over her shoulder. He landed hard on the ground and in his confusion, she zip tied him and marked his shirt with an MR in glow in the dark paint. Now, everyone would know he got beaten by the tiny fourteen year old. 

“The Black Widow is way more interesting than Mockingbird, my dear Romanoff.” Forther said, though he looked a little more worried now as Skye twisted out of Lewis’ grip and kneed him in the gut, causing him to double over and let her get the upper hand. She zip tied him and tossed him to where Graves was, the same initials splattered on his chest. 

“I’ll have to disagree with you there. So, explain this obsession with my mom then.” Skye said, inviting Rossini to attack. He took the bait and got a single punch to her shoulder before she ducked under him and jumped him, catching his head between her thighs the way her Mama had taught her, and twisting around until he fell. She rolled nearly away and zip tied him too, leaving her and Forther. 

“It’s not an obsession, I’m just curious. Heard she uses seduction to trap her victims, did she teach you that too?” He has the balls to lick his lips and Skye wants to throw up. That explained all the predatory behaviour, he was interested in her. He skin feels like it’s crawling under his gaze and it really is too familiar because too many of the guards in the Red Room looked at them like that. Vulnerable children, left alone with monsters. She squirmed under his gaze and unsheathed a small knife. 

“Don’t _ever_ talk about my fucking family or me like that again. Or I _will_ show you just how well my mom taught me to deal with fucking predators like you.” She snarled, his eyes flicked in fear to the very real knife she held. They all knew she knew how to use it, and use it well. They’d all been there for target practice, Skye and Lila never missed. 

She sincerely hoped he remembered that. 

“Now _get out of my way._ ” She said, her voice low and threatening, throwing in her old Russian twist just to scare him. His eyes widened and he ducked to the left, letting her pass. She sensed the movement before it came when he reached out to the side to grab her so she turned her knife to where her hip was and it lightly sliced his palm. He cried out in pain and she smirked at him before dropping to the safe to crack it. Fucking wimp. 

She got into the safe and removed the flag without triggering the smoke bomb he had set up. Once removed, she shoved it into her pack and looked back at the boys she had tied up. 

“Well, thanks for the fun boys.” She said cheerfully and Forther growled at her, his eyes narrowing but she ignored it and gave him a smile before sauntering outside. 

Once outside she took off in a sprint, needing the immediate adrenaline cool down after the experience with Forther. She knew something was off with him, she just didn’t realise she was his main fucking target. It made her feel dirty, knowing he was watching her and thinking about her...doing stuff with him. 

Gross. Skye wasn’t against sex or anything in any way but she was literally fourteen and tended to swing more for girls than boys. 

She sprinted all the way to the safe zone and saw that her team had already congregated there. Wanda and Lincoln were missing but they were probably on their way back from the boathouse. 

“Well done guys!” She greeted and they all turned to look at her triumphantly. Piper, Davis and Trip held their flags proudly and Robbie and Pietro sat looking very pleased with themselves. Wanda and Lincoln came in about ten seconds after Skye and still held the purple flag. 

Missions accomplished. They won! 

“Attention! All first year students are to end their game. We have a winner! Congratulations to the Legacies!” Director Hill announced through the speakers and the team cheered. 

“Cheers to Skye for her amazing plan!” Trip called and Skye blushed furiously. 

“Thank Lila instead, she made this whole thing run.” She threw an arm around her best friend who blushed also and rolled her eyes. 

“Well cheers to both of you then. Congrats guys!” Trip said and everyone whooped and clapped. A bell ring out to tell them that the game had ended for the first years and everyone could go back to their dorms. The school-wide game wasn't until next month so they had time to plan their next attack.   
  


* * *

A month later there were whispers all over campus the morning after the school-wide game. 

“I know! It’s amazing!” 

“First years never win!” 

“It’s Strike Team Delta’s kids, what were you expecting?”

”Aren’t they all kids of agents anyway? Triplett’s granddad was a Howlie, last I heard.” 

“Does it matter? They still won!” 

And the Little Legacies sat tiredly on the banks of the lake. It was colder now, they were heading home for Thanksgiving. The lake was already starting to freeze over and Skye looked wistfully at it. 

“We used to skate on one like that all the time in Russia. Mom and Mama took me a couple of times to the rinks whenever they were home during winter. Wasn’t the same though.” She explained, playing with Lila’s fingers from where she had her head pillowed on Lila’s thermal leggings covered lap. Lila was dressed like she was in the Himalayas, whereas Skye was wearing only a thin hoodie over her shirt and jeans. She always said she was basically Russian, despite having an American father and a Chinese mother biologically, and growing up in America since she was eight. 

“We did the same back in Sokovia.” Wanda said sadly, leaning against Lincoln’s shoulder. They were all tired, the game was much harder with the older kids and even Skye had slept through the night. They were all sporting spectacular bruises after an incident trying to set up another trap and Skye, Trip, Davis and Piper had an array of injuries. All bets were off with school-wide Capture the Flag and the fourth years played rough. 

“Maybe we can all go together sometime?” Piper suggested. They were sprawled out of the cold grass, snuggling into one of the many blankets they’d brought out here. Davis snorted and tossed another pebble into the water from the bank. 

“You seem to be forgetting the great ice skating incident of 2014.” He said with a grin, narrowly avoiding Piper’s Dorito missile. 

“I thought we agreed to never speak of that again.” Trip groaned, he still had nightmare about falling on his ass in front of everyone at the rink. They’d been on a field trip when they were ten to a skating rink. It had had disastrous consequences. 

“Maybe our parents will let us go over break.” Skye said softly to Lila who nodded. They were spending the break together, their parents were basically family at this point. They alternated holidays. The Barton’s were having Thanksgiving, so Stark would have Christmas, the Morse-Romanoff’s would have New Years at the Playground. 

“What’s the Wonder twins plans this year?” Robbie asked from under the blanket pile. For a guy who could light his fucking skull on fire, he was always cold. 

“Back to the orphanage for the holiday.” Pietro answered and the group gasped in shock. 

“Absolutely not. You’re coming with one of us.” Skye said adamantly. The group had made their own little family in the Academy over the last few months, they weren’t going to let anyone spend it on their own. 

“You don’t have to do that.” Wanda said softly, a blush rising to her cheeks. They didn’t like to ask for things, like Skye, preferring to slip into the background. 

“Don’t be stupid, I literally live on a spy base, there’s plenty of room.” Skye said. 

“Aren’t you going to Lila’s?” Pietro asked. Skye looked up at Lila, who nodded her consent. God knows her mom loved cooking for people, especially people who enjoyed it. Her and Pietro were going to get on like a house on fire. 

“Coop’s staying at school for the holiday, he’s got a project or something. You two can share his room when you come from the Playground.” Lila said and the twins nodded happily. 

“Thank you. You all are the best friends we’ve ever had.” Wanda said seriously, gaining a few “aww’s” from the group and a groan from Skye. 

“You just had to throw feelings in there didn’t you, Maximoff?” She chuckled and Wanda giggled. A happy buzz set through the group at the prospect of two weeks off school and back home with their families. 

“Still can’t believe we won.” Lincoln said and the group laughed, nudging each other to look at Skye and Lila when Lila caught their attention. 

Skye had fallen asleep with her her on Lila’s lap, curled around a blanket and an old spider stuffed animal, a light smile on her face as she slept. 

“I will fucking shoot anyone who wakes her up in the next hour.” Lila warned and Piper backed away from where she was going to tickled Skye’s feet to get her back for the age old bucket prank a week ago. 

“Happy holidays guys.” The group murmured their greetings to Pietro and looked back across the water. Some of them still had a coloured flag tied around their heads or were still covered in feathers as third year yellows decided to use Home Alone to plan their traps and Lincoln and Piper walked right into it. 

But they were happy. A warm feeling like hot chocolate set in their chests and Lila gently stroked a hand through Skye’s hair, hoping it would always feel like this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JRrobinhood is Lila btws 
> 
> Also, just in case there’s any confusion, Skye doesn’t want to go back to the red room, like ever, she just misses some stuff about it. The nicer things in her horrible childhood. Thanks! X


	8. Thanksgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanksgiving at the Barton’s is...interesting, to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh I’m sorry for this chapter i guess? It goes in like twenty six different directions and I don’t know how? Like it goes from angst to fluff to angst 
> 
> Yeah, Skye’s really not doing too good and this lays some foundations to that. 
> 
> Oh yeah so, Pepper and Tony are married and have Morgan and have basically adopted Peter at this point so just go with that lol :) 
> 
> WARNINGS: beginnings of anorexia not mentioned by name but uh it’s coming, Skye being sad
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Thanksgiving, in most American houses was normally a very lively affair. Skye and Lila’s families however, took it to new extremes. 

Wanda and Pietro had never seen anything like it, they didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Sokovia, and the orphanage they’d been placed in didn’t really do big holiday celebrations. 

For one, the amount of people congregated in the farm was a little ridiculous. There was Lila and her parents and her little brother, Nathaniel, and then Skye and her moms. There was also Tony Stark, his wife Pepper, their half-adopted son Peter and their biological daughter Morgan, Steve Rogers and his friend Bucky Barnes, and Maria Hill. That wasn’t even mentioning the three dogs, four cats and the hamster. 

Lila’s mom, Laura, seemed to take it all her stride though and asked Lila’s dad, Clint, to grab the extra table from the barn along with the chairs, extending the table into the living room. Wanda was initially nervous upon meeting all of Skye and Lila’s family, but the Barton’s were warm and friendly, and Skye’s moms, though slightly terrifying, were incredibly nice as well. 

When they’d heard that Tony Stark was going to be there, the twins had tensed automatically. Up until meeting Skye and Lila at the Academy, they had blamed Stark for the deaths of their parents but after actually looking back on the event without the overwhelming anger, (and a talking to from both Skye and Lila in defence of their uncle) they realised that all he’d done was built the weapons. The anger slowly faded and instead refocused on the people who sent those bombs, and would always be there. 

But now they were sitting at a dinner table across from Skye and Lila and next to the Barton’s and the Morse-Romanoff’s, listening to a story about an Avengers mission that had ended up with Thor being followed by a bunch of groupies and Clint in roller skates? They were all laughing happily and Wanda was suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude for Skye and Lila. 

Speaking of which, she’d have to force them into a broom closet at some point because those two were seriously in denial of their feelings for each other. Or maybe they weren’t and just didn’t want to admit it. She’d seen both their dreams, the nicer ones usually involved the other. 

Currently, the two were practically sitting on each other, Skye’s legs were on Lila’s lap and Lila’s head was on Skye’s shoulder. It couldn’t be comfortable for either of them but they seemed perfectly happy. They were talking in low voices in Dutch, giggling every so often about who knows what. They seemed to be completely unaware that Skye’s moms were giving them knowing looks every now and then. Pietro kicked her under the table and she drew her gaze away to turn her attention back to the table, where Maria was asking them about school. 

“We like it very much. Thank you again for the opportunity.” Wanda said softly, still a little uncomfortable with a ton of attention on her. 

“No worries, and the dorms? We just got them remodelled last year.” Maria smiled and Pietro grinned. 

“Coolest place I’ve ever been. The boys are very welcoming.” He said and Wanda rolled her eyes. 

“You lot are so loud sometimes. We have to send Skye over to glare at them till they go to sleep. But then Lila has to glare at _her_ to get her to go to sleep.” The adults all laughed, but the girls in question were completely oblivious. They were speaking in Spanish now, somehow combining it with sign language so they only ever caught the third sentence of whatever they were talking about. 

“So, what’s the bets on baby Hawkeye and baby Romanoff, then?” Tony asked. 

“We’re not setting up a betting pool for when our teenage daughters are going to get together.” Natasha laughed, and Tony pouted. However, they all slapped five dollars on the table and called out different time frames, the longest being Clint with six months and the shortest being Peter, who was betting on a month. 

“And what about you, Starkling?” Bobbi asked. “Anyone we should be betting on for you?” 

Peter blushed furiously and ducked his head. He was the same age as Skye, with some cool powers. He could shoot webs and scale buildings and swing through the streets. He was due to start the Academy in about three years, because unlike Skye, he wanted to be a normal kid first.

“Can we go show Wanda and Pietro the Nest?” Lila suddenly piped up from the other end of the table, catching the attention of the adults. Skye gave them her best puppy eyes and Wanda had a feeling that she used those a lot around her parents and family. 

"If you put thick jackets on and promise to help with the dishes later." Natasha said and Skye gave her an exaggerated eye roll, gaining a quirked eyebrow from her mom. 

"We're Russian, Mama. Well, I'm basically Russian. I don't need a jacket." Skye said, as she gathered hers, Lila's and the twins' plates. She didn't seem to catch Laura's eyes narrowing at her plate at the top of the pile, and Wanda was confused until she noted the amount of food still left on the plate. Whilst the other plates were completely empty, due to Laura's fantastic cooking, Skye's was nearly full. She'd only picked at the potatoes and the vegetables, the meat was completely untouched as was the gluten-free biscuits and gravy Laura had insisted everyone eat. Bobbi followed Laura's gaze and narrowed her eyes at the plate in Skye's hands. 

"Were you not hungry Rockstar?" Bobbi asked her daughter who looked down at her plate in confusion, then blushed and shook her head. The table seemed to fall completely silent and Wanda could tell by the tension in the room that this was a running issue. It didn't take a genius, or anyone who had been round the family for a long time to recognize that everyone was suddenly concerned for Skye. Wanda felt like she was missing something and turned to Pietro, who looked just as confused as her. Was this not normal for Skye? She didn't really eat all that much at school, Lila practically had to drag her to meals as she preferred to work until she dropped. She always stuck to healthier foods, salads and gluten-free pastas. Hell, most of the time she had Red Bull for breakfast and hoped for the best. They figured it was just a “Skye thing” like carrying knives or running five miles every morning. 

“мы можем просто уйти сейчас?” (Can we just go now?) Skye whispered. Wanda had no idea what she said but her moms exchanged a worried look before Bobbi nodded. 

“We’ll talk about this later.” Natasha said and Skye nodded gratefully, before turning on her heel and walking into the kitchen. Everyone could hear the rattling plates and the cupboards shook for a minute before Lila ran into the kitchen. The table remained silent. 

“Wanda, Pietro, you are very welcome to go see the Nest with the girls. Just come back in before it gets too dark unless you want to sleep out there. I think there’s still sleeping bags.” Laura said eventually, a warm smile forced on her face. Wanda nodded and grabbed Pietro’s hand, making them both leave the table before the atmosphere got any more uncomfortable. 

“That was weird.” Pietro whispered in Sokovian as they walked to the front door. The only other person who would understand them was Skye and she was still in the kitchen with Lila. 

“Let’s not judge yet, we don’t have all the information.” She said, they’d made that mistake with Stark, and he’d been nice enough. If something was off with Skye, they’d find out about it eventually. 

“You two ready?” Lila appeared behind them with a shaky Skye. Her hands still shook and her finger tapped against her leg rapidly, and her eyes were unfocused. She didn’t even put on a jacket or shoes, she just wandered outside barefoot before breaking into a sprint and heading off into the woods. 

“Is she okay?” Wanda asked nervously, turning back to Lila. 

“She will be. Come on, I’ll show the Nest. She should be okay after she’s ran seven miles. She’ll meet us there later.” Lila shoved on some Ugg boots and a thick jacket, handing Wanda and Pietro their own boots and jackets. She smiled tentatively and grabbed a torch before heading outside.   
  


* * *

The Nest is in the roof of a small barn near the back of the property. It’s clear that Lila spent a lot of time up here because there’s fairy lights and a Taylor Swift poster and pink blankets, it looks just like her bunk in the dorm. 

“Welcome to my second bedroom, otherwise known as the Nest.” Lila introduces, climbing the ladder with a practiced ease and settling on an old floor cushion. There’s a hole in the roof and in the darkness of an Idaho November night, Wanda can see a lot more stars than in Indiana. It reminds her of Sokovia and she feels a lot calmer out here. 

“Why is it called the Nest?” Pietro asks, letting Wanda climb the ladder first before swinging up himself and throwing himself into a bean bag. 

“My dad has a lot of these in SHIELD bases or at Stark Tower and when me and Coop were younger he told us about them. I liked the idea and kind of adopted it, especially when Uncle Coulson and Uncle Fury started calling me Baby Hawkeye.” Lila explained, keeping her eyes tracked on the door. Wanda knew she was waiting for Skye, she could feel the worry rolling off her shoulders. 

“It’s like home.” Pietro said softly, looking through the hole in the roof. “We could see all these stars from there too.” 

“You ever miss it?” Lila asked. 

“All the time. It’s nice with all of you at school and America is a lot nicer than Sokovia, but it’s still home.” Wanda said softly, willing herself not to cry. 

“Maybe we can visit sometime.” Lila commented, linking her pinky with Wanda’s, just to let her know she’s there. 

“I’d like that.” Wanda whispered. 

“Y’all miss me?” Skye called from the door, where she’d just entered. She was barely even sweating, even though she’d just run about four miles. Her emotions were unkept and Wanda couldn’t stop herself from glancing into Skye’s head. It was a mess in there so she didn’t go too far, just the surface level.

Dark figures and needles and empty stomachs and Lila and dead girls and bombs and knives and a ballet studio and her moms and a blue crystal and-

“Out, Maximoff.” Skye said firmly, but not angrily. She knew Wanda would want to look but she was absolutely not letting her see the shit in there. Not right now. Maybe not ever. 

“Hey look! Shooting star!” Pietro called, breaking Skye and Wanda’s stare off. Skye wasn’t angry at her, just afraid and sad. Wanda was just confused. 

“No there isn’t, Sonic.” Lila laughed, opening her arms to Skye who whispered something to her in French before settling in her arms. Lila returned in kind and they all faced back toward the hole in the roof. 

“Hey guys? Thanks for being here.” Skye said into the chilly night air. She was wrapped in a blanket at this point but she didn’t even look cold. Wanda and Lila were still shivering even in their parkas. Pietro had an enhanced system, he didn’t really feel the cold too much but he was still wrapped firmly in his jacket and blanket. 

“Anything for you, darling.” Lila said sarcastically, ignoring Skye’s middle finger. 

“Wanda do the thing!” Pietro asked excitedly, suddenly remembering the cool visions Wanda could create with her powers. Wanda rolled her eyes but complied and the group watched in wonder as scarlet swirls filled the air, twisting to create pictures of old fairy tales her mother used to tell them before bed. 

“Wait, watch this!” Skye lifted her hands and pushed gentle vibrations out, catching on Wanda’s red tendrils and manipulating them to create the old Russian tales they used to share in the Red Room to get the younger ones to sleep, explaining them softly in English as one by one, the group fell asleep. 

Skye watched them sleep for a while, taking comfort in Lila’s breathing at her back. Then she let the tears fall. She was surrounded by the people she loved but her head was such a mess that she felt completely alone. She looked through the hole in the roof at the stars and for the first time in a very long time, she remembered all those stars she named in Russia to remember her fallen friends in the Red Room. 

She’d never forget them. She could only pray they forgave her, even if she’d never truly forgive herself. 


	9. Nighttime Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Nat have a conversation at two in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again a weird mixture of fluff and angst 
> 
> WARNINGS: nightmares, anorexia (kind of), past child abuse, ptsd 
> 
> Also please don’t mix Ritalin and red bull, it won’t end well
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

All was dark and quiet in the Barton farm as Skye slipped down the stairs and into the living room. They were only here for another day, Mama had a mission and they were due back at the Academy on Monday. Uncle Tony and his family had already left the day before with Steve and Bucky. Auntie Maria had left the day after Thanksgiving. It was just the Barton’s, her moms and the twins left. 

She couldn’t sleep again. It was happening more often now and she hated it. Every time she closed her eyes all she saw was the horrors of her childhood or the nightmares of what was supposed to come had she been left in Russia. 

Dr Garner warned this would happen eventually. That her mind would repress what it could to protect her but eventually, probably once she’d been through a change in her life, it would all come back in segments. And because whoever up there fucking hated her, it was coming back now.

“Can’t sleep?” Skye jumped at the voice from the darkness, fighting the ingrained urge to take up a fighting stance. There are no enemies here, she is still safe. She hates that she has to remind herself of that after all this time. 

“You scared me.” She whispered to her Mama, who came around the corner with a mug of hot chocolate in each hand. 

“Doesn’t answer my question, malyshka.” Her mom returned, eyebrow quirked. Skye sighed and twisted the heavy silver bracelet around her wrist before moving to the couch and tucking her legs up, knowing her Mama would follow. This was an old ritual they had. Whenever Skye had nightmares or something was bothering her, her Mama would make her hot chocolate and they would talk about it, or anything else, until she calmed enough to sleep. 

“I keep seeing things when I close my eyes.” Skye admitted, looking anywhere but her Mama so she wouldn’t see the pity and the guilt on her face. Skye knew her Mama still blamed herself for the Red Room still existing after she left way back before Skye was ever there. No matter how many times Skye told her she didn’t blame her, her Mama still blamed herself. They must have that in common. 

“You haven’t...you haven’t tried the handcuffs again, have you?” Mama asked her cautiously and Skye looked away guiltily, tensing when she heard the sigh. Of course she’d tried locking herself to the bed again. The bracelet only worked so much, and she was so goddamn exhausted that she snapped the metal cuff back on her left wrist and for the first time in a month, she slept soundly. And she hated herself for it. 

“I don’t know what’s happening Mama.” Skye whispered around the lump in her throat. “I can’t sleep and I can’t eat and I just feel so _wrong._ I love the Academy and I’m really happy there, but I just...” 

To her credit, Natasha kept a strong poker face when her daughter explained what was happening. But inside, she was breaking in about nine different places. For all the warnings from Garner and her own psychiatrist and even Coulson and May, they hadn’t expected Skye’s trauma to resurface this quickly so they hadn’t prepared her for it. 

“There’s nothing wrong with you, паук. You went through something that was traumatic and you’re allowed to be affected by it, you know that.” She opted for, gently pulling Skye onto her lap so she could cry into her chest. Skye was still a silent crier, and probably always would be. The only thing that gave away the fact that she was sobbing was the shake of her shoulders and the growing wet patch on Natasha’s shirt. 

Natasha hummed softly into Skye’s hair, rubbing circles on her back. She heard movement behind her and five seconds later, Lila materialised in front of her. She was beginning to think the girls were telepathic, they always seemed to appear when the other needed comfort or a laugh. She might have to enter that betting pool after all. 

“Go back to bed Lila.” Skye whispered, her voice broken and sore. Lila shook her head even though Natasha was the only one who could see it and placed a hand on Skye’s shoulder, letting her calmer vibrations steady the girl. 

“You’re not alone, Skye. You don’t have to fight this by yourself.” Natasha said quietly, putting an arm round Lila to draw her into the hug. 

“I know.” Skye whispered back. “I can go back to school, right?” 

Natasha hesitated. On one hand, she wanted desperately to keep Skye at the Playground to keep an eye on her, but they had missions all the time and Skye would hate being locked up there. At least at the Academy, though could reach out to Skye’s professors and ask them to keep an eye out, as well as Skye’s friends. 

“Yes, malyshka, you can go back. But we’re gonna keep an eye on this, okay? Especially your eating.” Natasha said and Skye nodded gratefully. She’d probably go nuts if she’d been told to go back home, no matter how much she loved being with her moms. She needed the routine and the atmosphere of the Academy, to be with kids her own age, even if she was falling apart a little bit. 

“I’m banning you from Red Bull.” Lila said, and Skye looked at her indignantly. 

“I thought we were keeping that between us.” 

“You took your ADHD meds with a full can of Red Bull for breakfast, did three essays in two hours, went for a twelve mile run then crashed in the shower. I think your mom might need to know that.” Lila said. Skye sent her a gentle quake, just enough to knock her into the pillows and set about tickling her until Lila begged for mercy. Natasha watched in wonder. How could they go from sad and crying one minute to tickle fights the next? 

“Okay, that’s enough before you two wake the whole house.” Natasha broke them up before they started a pillow fight and they both pouted and gave her puppy eyes to rival Nathaniel and Morgan’s. “That’s not going to work on me.” 

“We’re not tired Auntie Nat!” Lila let out a yawn as she finished her sentence and Skye was ready to drop anyway so they didn’t put up much of a fight when she rolled her eyes and turned them towards the stairs. 

“Bed. And Skye? We will be talking about dangerous mixing of substances in the morning.” She warned and Skye blanched before looping her arms around Natasha’s waist. 

“люблю тебя мама.” (Love you Mama.) She whispered before grabbing Lila’s hand and pulling her through the bedroom door. Natasha stayed in the doorway, leaning against the frame until they were tucked up in bed, curled around each other like monkeys. It was adorable, even if they were children of assassins. 

She didn’t know if Skye would be okay any time soon, and she hoped to God that she would be. But she had the feeling that everything would work out eventually. 


	10. The Gay Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At this point, they’re basically the Gay Alliance. Aka, we learn everyone’s sexualities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so fluffy. Like there’s a sprinkling of angst but then it’s like omg no fluff city again 
> 
> WARNINGS, slightest mentions of Skye’s ongoing eating disorder but it’s not talked about in great detail 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

They’d been back at the Academy for two weeks when the topic arose at dinner. It was Wednesday, so Trip, Piper, Davis, the twins and Lila were eating the chicken stew, whilst Lincoln and Robbie were on a vegetarian kick and eating salad and Skye was trying her best to drink a high calorie smoothie and eat her sandwich. It wasn’t going very well. 

But they knew better than to outright mention it to her, so instead, Lila rested a hand on her knee, (because she still sat on the table) and Skye just tried her best. The group talked about anything and everything else per Lila and Wanda’s request. 

“Forther still pissed at you?” Trip asked Skye. He’d noticed that Forther was constantly glaring or eyeing up Skye in their training sessions and Ops lectures. 

“Yep. I must have hurt his testosterone filled ego when I beat him in October.” She replied with an eye roll. Forther still had a weird obsession with her, and it was starting to piss her off.

”Maybe he likes you.” Davis supplied helpfully, then withered under Wanda’s glare. The three girls had gotten a lot closer over Thanksgiving and they were all fiercely protective over each other. 

“Unfortunately for him, I’m not all that into guys.” Skye said with a grin, knowing where the conversation would lead to. 

“Ah yes, the gay agenda is back in session.” Lincoln grinned over his mouthful of lettuce. Joey was stuck at the library in a study group or he would be here too. 

“Oh joy.” Davis groaned, ignoring the dig in his ribs from Piper. 

“Okay, head count. Who’s in the rainbow club?” Skye smiled. She frowned at Lila’s tap on her knee, then realised with a blush that she’d neglected her smoothie. She picked it back up and nodded at Lila in thanks. 

“Well, you’ve got the three straights over here.” Davis called, pointing to himself, Robbie and Trip, who pouted.

“Don’t just assume dude, I could be bi or something.” He defended, mocking hurt. The group turned to him expectantly. “Well actually...” 

“We’ve got another one!” Lila exclaimed, and Trip ducked his head. The group was quickly becoming the fucking Gay Alliance, which was perfectly fine for them. 

“I think I’m pansexual. I’ve had crushes on people, not their genders. Does that make sense?” Trip explained with a nervous shake in his voice. He looked scared even, until the group burst into applause, gaining the attention of the Sci-Tech kids. Skye gave them a glare and they blanched and turned back to their conversations. Even if she wasn’t a force of nature herself, no one messed with the daughter of the Black Widow and Mockingbird. 

“We’re nearly at a full set guys, we just need someone trans and we’ve hit all the bases. Do you think RuPaul sends you a goodie bag after that?” Skye asked excitedly. 

“We’re not Pokemon, Skye.” Trip laughed. 

“Okay, back to the head count.” Lila said, commandeering them back to their original conversation. There was a reason she was second on the Comms leaderboard. 

“Trip, also known as Baby Commando and Quaker Oats, pansexual.” Trip said with a grin at the groans of his friends. The boy ate a bowl of oatmeal every morning without fail. It was weird. 

“Davis, also known as Triple D and uh, Trevor the Stegosaurus, very straight.” 

“We all love Trevor, don’t worry.” Piper laughed. Davis slept with a stuffed stegosaurus missing an arm and an eye. Why he thought he was going to be judged for it was beyond them, as most of them slept with stuffed animals. 

“Piper, also known as “I’m not telling you my first name” and the Pied Piper, lesbians and non-binary.” Piper said with a shit-eating grin. In the six years they’d known most of them, they’d refused to tell any of them their first name. Only Davis knew and that was only because they were distant cousins like six times removed. Skye had been trying for months to get them to crack, with some hilarious guesses. 

“Lincoln, aka Sparky, Lightning Bolt, Static, Pikachu, gay.” Lincoln chimed in, drawing his eyes up from his phone where he was rapid fire texting Joey. Those two had it bad. 

“Robbie, aka Ghost Rider, Demon Boy and Spawn of Satan because I woke Lila up _one_ time.” He aimed a glare at Lila who smirked and stuck her tongue out at him. “And I’m straight.” 

“Pietro, aka Sonic, First Born, Dash, and I’m bisexual.” 

“Wanda, also known as Scarlet Witch, _Sestra,_ Dark Phoenix, thief, though I gave you your jacket back Skye, and I’m aromantic, but a preference for girls if I was into that.” Wanda ignored Skye’s look of shock when she said about her jacket. In the Carter Dorm it was pretty much a free for all on clothes at this point, but Wanda had borrowed Skye’s leather jacket and caused massive rumours to spread that they were dating. Which was hilarious because Wanda wasn’t interested in romantic relationships at all and Lila and Skye were meant to be together once they got their heads out their asses. Which reminded her, she’d have to find that storage closet sometime...

”Lila, also known as Baby Hawkeye, Lil, Butterfly, Bane of Fury Dorms Existence, and I’m lesbian.” The boys all argued loudly that they only called her that because she made them go to bed at reasonable times and made sure they ate and were wrapped up warm for winter. Lila was the mom of the group and the rest of them ranged from complete children to angsty teens. 

“Skye, aka Quake, Daisy, DJ, Baby Romanoff, Little Widow, Assassin, the Cause of Davis’s Nightmares and the Light of all Your Miserable Lives, and I’m bisexual with a preference for girls.” Skye finished with a grin but the others would have to agree with her. She was the beating heart of the group. They didn’t function as well without her there, no one provided running commentary or threw knives into the table for fun. No one sent memes to the group chat at half two in the morning when she wasn’t there. No one planned pranks on the other kids in training without her around. In short, Skye kept them together just as much as Lila. 

“So, we’re all here, we’re mostly all queer, now we cheer!” The group whooped and laughed at top volume and then had to vacate the dining room before they got detention from Professor Greene, who enjoyed punishing the group as much as he could. He was a specialist but a mission went wrong and now he’s stuck teaching. 

They ended up sprawled on the grass on the football field, limbs tangled and mixed together to form a body pile. Skye’s head was on Lila’s legs and Lila was sitting on Robbie. Davis and Piper were squabbling over the last can of Coke they’d stolen from the dining room before they’d left and Wanda, Pietro, Lincoln and Trip were sitting in a line, the twins automatically wrapping their bodies around each other. 

Lila shivered in the cold December air. Skye noticed and pulled off her sweatshirt, immediately handing it to Lila who accepted but then looked at Skye seriously, silent concern in her eyes. Skye brushed her off, but the girls already knew they were bed-sharing tonight. They’d been working together to help Skye, but it was slow going. One day at a time and all that. Skye figured it was just going to be another night of brainless Netflix comedies and staring at the ceiling until she drifted off or sneaking out the dorm and running until she couldn’t remember what was bothering her in the first place. 

The vibrations of the group settled her back into Lila’s lap, breathing in the scent of wet grass and feeling her friends rhythmic heartbeats under her skin like music, calming her racing thoughts and shaking hands until everything felt still. Robbie placed a warm hand on her head, letting his fingers card through the freshly dyed pink waves, fingers as gentle as Lila’s on her arms, counting the scars like she did often. It felt right here, with her friends and the girl she wished was more than her best friend, but would never tell. 

Lila watches Skye go silent and how her body goes endlessly still. This almost never happens and she is enthralled when it does. Skye’s body ceases all movement for a small piece of time, sensing the vibrations around her and leaning into them, letting the noises wash over her until they were nothing. She almost doesn’t realise that Robbie’s hand is stroking her hair as well until she looks up at him and he silently asks with his eyes if this is okay. She nods and he gives her a gentle smile. 

For that tiny piece of time on a football field, on a cold Wednesday night in December, everything was right in the world. 


	11. Dark Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila wakes up to the bed shaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohh this chapter is sad 
> 
> WARNINGS: nightmares, child killings, child soldiers, red room, vomiting
> 
> I’m very sorry for this but there’s some cute Skye/Lila stuff in the end 
> 
> Also I really swing between Skye and Daisy in this because Lila still can’t decide which one to go with so just roll with both 
> 
> Thanks again for reading, hope you’re enjoying! Enjoy! -bex xx

The bed is shaking. Lila rocks awake, rubbing her eyes and looking into the dim light of the dorm. Daisy and Wanda slept with fairy lights. Daisy’s were TARDIS shaped because her aunt and uncle Fitzsimmons made her watch Doctor Who until she was obsessed and got her the lights for Christmas, Wanda’s were just normal twinkle lights that Piper got her for her birthday in October so she’d stop sleeping with a lamp on. 

Piper and Wanda are still asleep for now, their bodies are still tangled in their own sheets in bed. Her own bunk shakes violently, the wood scraping against the floorboards and she’s immediately terrified that it’s going to fall over. She vacates her bed quickly and pulls out the step ladder they keep to wake up Piper and Skye without climbing up the ladders on their bunks. 

“Zee.” Lila whispers to Daisy who whimpers in her sleep, the bed quaking in tandem with her body. Her eyes are squeezed shut and her arm is trapped above her head. 

She locked her wrist to her bed again. The cold, unforgiving metal glints in the soft blue light of the lights attached to the wall. Daisy twists and the metal cuts into the delicate skin. It’s going to leave marks, a red ring of irritated flesh. 

“Daisy. Wake up.” Lila says louder, but Daisy remains asleep, trapped in her own mind. 

“What’s going on?” Piper asks sleepily from the other side of the room. The room is shaking now and Skye isn’t waking up. 

“Skye’s in a nightmare and she’s quaking the room in her sleep.” Lila answers and Piper sits fully up in fear. Wanda comes to consciousness as well and both of them stare at the girl still asleep.

”Skye! Wake up!” Lila shouts when a perfume bottle falls to the floor, suddenly happy that Piper insisted on the rug under the dresser. Skye bolts up but her eyes are glazed and unfocused. She’s not fully awake yet. 

“нет, нет! пожалуйста!” (No, no! Please!) Skye begs to whoever they can’t see. Her right arm comes over her face and her left twists and slides in the cuff, dragging her back to the headboard. 

“Skye! It’s not real, please wake up!” Lila calls to her but it’s useless, Skye isn’t waking up any time soon no matter what they do. She doesn’t have these nightmares often, but when she does they are relentless and terrifying.

”Can someone go get Professor May please?” She asks Wanda and Piper instead, who nod and slide on their shoes before slipping out the door to find May. Lila would normally call Daisy’s moms for advice, but they were on mission right now, so May was their best option as she was teaching here right now. 

“Daisy...please wake up. It’s okay, you’re not there.” Lila whispers into Skye’s ear, as the girl cries and shivers and gasps as she is plagued by whoever she is seeing in her nightmare. 

She remembers Auntie Nat having one like this one time she stayed with them, before Skye and Bobbi. She was too young to remember it properly, but she can vaguely recall her parents and Nat in the living room as Auntie Nat vomited into a bowl and whispered in scared Russian with unseeing eyes at nothing. Her and Cooper watched fearfully from the stairs as her dad sat in front of their aunt and wiped the sick off her face and their mom rubbed her back from behind until Auntie Nat woke up and sobbed. It was the only time they’d ever seen her cry like that.

Like mother, like daughter, Lila supposed. 

“ты же обещал! ты обещал не причинять ей вреда, пожалуйста, пожалуйста, прекрати!” (You promised! You promised not to hurt her, please, please stop!) Daisy sobbed to the darkness and the quaking grew in intensity for a moment before stopping completely as Skye grew scarily silent. She froze in time, no tears, no sobs, no cries. Her entire body went rigid and then she blinked. 

Daisy turned to her with fearful eyes and Lila nodded tearfully to confirm that she was there, this was real, she was safe. Daisy’s entire body trembled and she blearily looked at the cuffs and Lila shakily took the keys from under her pillow and unlocked her friend.

”Het spijt me.” (I’m sorry.) Daisy whispered, tears falling down her flushed cheeks. Lila shook her head and offered her hand for Daisy to come down the ladder of the bunk bed. Shakily, they entered the attached bathroom and Skye swayed on her feet before falling to her knees in front of the toilet and just narrowly hitting the pan as she retched. Lila held back her hair and rubbed her back and let her own tears fall as Daisy puked up mostly bile, as there wasn’t much in her stomach in the first place.

”Everything okay in here, Barton?” May’s normally stoic voice was uncharacteristically soft as she entered the small bathroom. Lila felt a warm hand on her back and a cold cup of water pressed into her hand that she sipped gratefully. Daisy continued puking, and May looked at her in concern. 

What felt like hours later, but was probably only twenty minutes, Daisy stopped retching and sat back on her heels. Her face was pale and gaunt, dark shadows under her eyes highlighted by the stark lighting of the bathroom. She was at least aware of her surroundings this time. 

“Lila?” She asked, her voice shaking in exhaustion and fear. Lila sank to the floor and gathered Daisy into her arms. May came down with them and placed a comforting arm onto both of their entangled arms.

”What were you dreaming about, honey?” Lila asked in a whisper because if she didn’t talk about it now, she probably never would. 

“What I...what I did to Saskia. But it was you. I...we had to fight. You were losing and I tried to let you win but they were going to kill Tasya. She was only five. And I didn’t want to but I did it and I’d promised but they didn’t listen and I’m sorry!” Daisy sobs into her chest, and Lila’s heart breaks. Daisy had had these nightmares since they’d become close, where she had to kill or hurt Lila. She should have known that’s what caused this. 

“I’m okay, Zee. We’re all okay, you’re not there anymore.” Lila hushed her, drawing patterns on Daisy’s back. The same constellations they used to watch together in the Nest or in the field, when they were younger and less stressed and not so afraid to admit to each other that they wanted more. 

“You’re safe now, Skye. It’s safe here.” May added, squeezing Lila’s shoulder in solidarity. Daisy nodded and looked up at both of them. 

“I love you. You know that right? I would never hurt you or anyone here-“ 

“Enough. We know, Skye. It was just a bad dream.” May cut her off with a warning glare that held no heat. 

“Get me breakfast in the morning and I’ll forget all about this.” Lila joked and Skye giggled, hugging her extra tightly as she dried her eyes and stood up, joints stiff from the lack of movement. 

“I’m gonna go run around for a while to get this out my system. I’ll see you at breakfast.” Daisy kissed Lila on the head and gave May a quick hug before leaving, murmuring quick apologies to Piper and Wanda who waved her off. 

“You okay, Lila?” May questioned softly and Lila smiled. 

“Better now. Thanks for coming.” 

“Seems you had it all handled.” May replied, helping Lila off the floor and passing her a wet wash cloth for her hands, which were covered in sweat from Skye’s clammy body. 

“Practice makes perfect.”

”Any time you need help don’t be afraid to call. You two don’t need to deal with this alone.” May reminded her and Lila nodded seriously. 

“Was she wearing Black Widow pjs?” Piper questioned from outside and Lila laughed. Her dad had gotten Daisy those for her birthday last year to get revenge for Lila’s Hawkeye pjs from Nat. 

“Back to bed now people, early mornings and all that.” May chastised them and they all scrambled to get back into their bunks. May nodded at them all and left unceremoniously. 

Lila lay in the dark for a long time after that, waiting for Daisy to return from wherever she was running to that night. Eventually, sometime between four and five, the door opened and Daisy trudged in. She shed her sneakers at the door and disappeared into the bathroom to change into a fresh sleep shirt and shorts before climbing into Lila’s bed. 

“Matin, papillon.” (Morning, butterfly.) She whispered as she cuddled into Lila’s side. Lila sighed and pressed a kiss to Skye’s head. She smelled like grass and mud, which told Lila she’d been running sprint sets on the football field. 

“Better now?” 

“Always better with you, Lila.” 


	12. Christmas at SHIELD Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye, Lila, Wanda, Pietro and Robbie have to stay at the Academy over Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so long I’m so sorry. I could have split it but it just made sense to keep this in one chapter. Get ready for the Xmas fluff! 
> 
> All the foreign foods mentioned by Wanda are Hungarian foods I found on google so please let me know if they’re inaccurate, same with the Russian ones.
> 
> Let me know what you think of this chapter! 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“I need Barton and Morse-Romanoff, Professor Duran.” Deputy Director Hill stood in the doorway of their English class. Skye and Lila exchanged worried glances because Auntie Maria never came looking for them at school unless something bad had happened to their parents. Robbie nodded encouragingly and they left the classroom, ignoring the stares of their classmates. 

“What’s up, Auntie Maria?” Lila asked cautiously, threading her fingers with Skye’s, finding comfort in the calloused hands and Skye’s tapping. 

“You both are staying here for the holidays, Hawkeye and Black Widow are on mission over Christmas and it’s a very important undercover, Mockingbird is in quarantine after coming into contact with some non-lethal alien virus, the farm has contracted the flu and Laura doesn’t want to infect the school, Stark managed to pick a fight with Rogers and Barnes and that’s a whole situation neither of you need to see, so I’m very sorry but you’re staying here.” Hill explained. 

“Undercover?” 

“Alien virus?” 

“The flu?” 

“The Avengers are fighting again?” 

Hill rolled her eyes as her nieces stared at her dumbfounded. She nodded and gave them an apologetic shrug. 

“You can see them again in the New Year, you both know they’re always welcome here. I think the twins are staying as well.” Skye and Lila looked at each other, then shrugged. 

“It’ll be fun.” Lila stated, eyes aglow as she thought about the empty campus and snow and introducing the twins to a proper American Christmas. 

“Just like Harry Potter!” Skye said happily, though Maria could still see the dark circles under her eyes and that her clothes were a lot baggier nowadays. May had already explained the nightmares and flashbacks, and she’d promised Nat and Bobbi she’d keep an eye out. She’d have to let them know in the New Year. 

“Sure kids, well I’ll see you at some point before I leave. Some diplomat meeting in Shanghai.” Maria said, drawing her nieces in for a hug. They might not be blood, but they’re the closest thing she has to family. 

“Don’t forget to get that tea Mama likes, and Mom’s sweets. Or Uncle Clint’s butter cookies.” Skye reminded her and Maria waved her off, she already had a freaking list. 

“Happy holidays girls.” She said and they returned the greeting before returning to class. It always amused her how in sync they were, and personally, she was betting three months. Something would happen over Christmas or New Year because they were Barton and Romanoff’s kids, and that whole family were weird romantic cliches. 

* * *

  
Slowly but surely, the Academy began to empty of students. The snow fell heavy and thick and there was a school wide snowball fight, that was essentially just paintball with snow, on the last day of classes. It lasted five hours and was eventually called as a draw between the Legacies and some third year team. 

“You know you’re always welcome to come to ours for the holidays?” Trip offered before he left with Sharon. The Howlies always liked to have big reunions over the holidays. Skye and Lila shook their heads, having already explained that they were staying. 

“My parents would be cool if you came to ours too.” Piper supplied. 

“Technically, I’m heading to Piper’s for Christmas because we’re related but sure, you can come to our Christmas extravaganza.” Davis agreed. 

“Guys, we appreciate it, but we already said we’re fine staying here. We’ll keep the twins company and check off my bucket list of having a Hogwarts Christmas.” Skye said eventually, effectively stopping Lincoln from asking if they wanted to go his house for the holidays. 

“Besides Robbie’s staying as well, we’ll have a great time.” Lila agreed, sitting on Trip’s case so it would shut. God knows what the boy had in there. 

“Fine, but we’re doing a group call on Christmas Day.” Trip sighed, finally getting his case shut. 

“And on New Years.” Lincoln called from the hallway. 

“Deal.”   
  


* * *

“Lila! Wake up!” Lila was shaken awake at the ungodly hour of five a.m by a very excited Daisy, who was already dressed in a Christmas onesie. 

“You have got to be kidding me. It’s five in the fucking morning.” Lila groaned, pressing her face into the pillow. 

“Its Christmas, Lil!” Daisy was persistent, but Lila was smart so she tugged the younger girl into the bed with her and trapped her by hooking her legs around her waist. 

“And because it’s Christmas, I say we get at least three more hours of sleep.” Lila whispered in Skye’s ear, ignoring the poke in her leg. 

“I seem to remember a very different Lila Barton who in Christmas two years woke up at five and jumped on her parents bed with her brother until they let you open presents.” Skye said with a shit eating grin, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach that gained wings when Lila snuggled closer to her.

“And I seem to remember a girl who didn’t know what Christmas was. Or have we forgotten the Christmas of 2013?” Lila retorted, simultaneously ignoring the flutter in her chest when Daisy flipped them so she was straddling Lila’s legs.

“I’ll let you get two more hours. We’re watching A Muppet Christmas Carol though.” Skye kissed Lila on the forehead and got off the bottom bunk, smirking at Lila’s protests against the movie. 

“I hate that movie!” She preferred the 2009 Disney version. 

“I’m aware.” Daisy giggled, then slipped out the door to do god knows what. Probably go train because she was wearing workout clothes rather her onesie and she was one of those people who would train everyday, no matter the circumstances. 

Lila did get her blessed two more hours of sleep, and Daisy actually brought hot chocolate as a peace offering next time she came back for her and Wanda, who sleepily accepted. 

“How come you didn’t wake her up at the ass crack of dawn?” Lila grumbled, blowing on her drink to cool it down. Daisy always made good hot chocolate, even if she barely ever drank it herself. Some old English recipe her mom taught her when they in a safe house in the Alps for classified reasons. It was proper drinking chocolate with cinnamon and marshmallows, both in Christmas mugs which had appeared from who knows where. 

“Wanda needs her beauty sleep.” Daisy smirked. 

“And I don’t?” 

“No, you’re pretty enough already babe.” Skye giggled, fiercely trying to ignore Lila’s blush and the way it made her feel all happy and gooey inside. Nope, she’s a fucking Red Room, malfunctioning assassin, why would Lila ever like someone as damaged as her? 

“At least you brought hot chocolate this time.” Lila said with a smile, hating the way her cheeks heated up. Skye deserved someone who could properly understand her traumas, someone who could relate. She grew up mostly sheltered from all that, only seeing it with her dad or Auntie Nat or Daisy herself, but she couldn’t properly understand it. 

“So, what do you Americans do for Christmas?” Wanda piped up from the other side of the room. 

“Depends where we are. If we’re at the farm then it’s a massive scavenger hunt for the gifts and then Auntie Laura cooks and we stay up way past our bedtimes-“

”-but if we’re at the Playground then we have a really mixed Christmas because of all the Brits that are there and Mack and Elena’s more Spanish traditions and everyone else-“

”-and if we’re at Uncle Tony’s then Auntie Pepper gets it catered and JARVIS plays endless Christmas music and we have a hacking contest whilst Uncle Bruce and Peter have some boring talk about chemistry. So it kinda changes every year, what was it like in Sokovia?” Skye finishes and Wanda has to pause to decipher all of that information. 

“Quiet. Our parents would take us to the markets in the square on Christmas Eve and we would pick out a present for the next day. We would make goulash and lángos and paprikás and our father would take us sledding.” Wanda said eventually, softening at the memories. 

“We could do stuff like that here, if you wanted to?” Skye offered and Wanda nodded gratefully. It was nice to learn about American cultures, but she missed her own. 

“We already make blini and stroganoff for the Russians of the family, it won’t be too hard to make your meals as well.” Lila said, finally getting out of bed and accepting the festive pjs that Skye handed her with an eye roll. Skye always went full throttle on holidays and Lila couldn’t fault her, she’d gone eight whole year without it. 

They met the boys in the hallway, before heading down to the dining hall. The kitchen staff weren’t there, but Maria had given them permission to use the kitchen so long as they didn’t burn it down. Half an hour later they had pancakes and the little Russian crepes called blini’s, and they’d only set the fire alarm off once when Skye tried to use her powers to flip a pancake. 

They’d already agreed to open presents in the common room on their floor so they could video call with Bobbi and the rest of their friends. It was a very chaotic affair, Trip kept cutting out because of his reception, Skye’s mom was stuck in one of the quarantine rooms, Piper and Davis were babysitting their little cousins who consistently asked for the tablet to play games and somehow, amongst it all, Skye and Pietro had managed to make Wanda cry by getting her a blanket that was an exact replica of the one she had in Sokovia, before the bomb destroyed their house. They signed off and Skye and Lila disappeared to call their parents individually. 

“Ten bucks says they kiss on New Years.” Robbie called as soon as they were out of earshot.

”I say Lila’s birthday in March.” Wanda said. 

“I’m saying next summer. Those two are somehow completely oblivious that they’re in love.” Pietro sighed. 

Later on, once all parents and relatives and friends had been called, (and Skye and Lila managed to get Tony and Steve to stop fighting) they were all back in the common room, mattresses from their beds on the floor and the projector hooked up to Skye’s laptop. They’d downloaded a bunch of Christmas movies from some not-so-legal sites, but who was really caring. 

“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a cinematic masterpiece.” Lila defended when Robbie tried to argue that Elf was better. Skye shushed them and threatened a knife between them. Of course her mom had sent her new ones, it was practically a Christmas tradition at this point. 

“Are you crying?” Wanda asked Pietro when they’d finished Its A Wonderful Life. He sniffled and cuddled closer to Robbie who sighed and brought the duvet up over the boy. 

“They’re all asleep.” Skye whispered to Lila once they’d finished the first Harry Potter, because it was a Christmas staple and Skye refused to watch anything else. 

“I’m not surprised. Not all of us can keep up your sleep schedule, or lack thereof.” Lila giggled softly, letting Daisy curl around her like a koala. They stared at each other in the darkness, and Lila could have swore that Daisy’s eyes fell down to her lips and it had nothing to do with the angle. 

“Zee...” She started quietly and Skye tangled their feet together under the covers. The both shivered at the movement and suddenly, Skye wasn’t so sure that Lila didn’t like her that way. Her heart began racing in a way it only did after a nightmare but this was no nightmare. This was one of her softest daydreams, the ones where they ran missions together and retired to some old house in France with a dog. The ones where they spoke foreign languages to each other in soft whispers on comms so no one could understand them. The ones where Skye didn’t think about what everyone else thought and shut up the toxic voice in her brain that told her she wasn’t good enough, would never be good enough, and kissed Lila so fiercely they were breathless. 

Okay, so she might have thought about it a lot. 

They moved closer until their faces were inches apart, achingly close and yet still so far. Lila’s eyes shone in the moonlight, like the stars they watched as kids on New Years. 

“Happy Christmas butterfly.” 

“Happy Christmas, Daisy.” 

And their lips met. Daisy’s lip were soft and warm, her mouth tasted of the vanilla chapstick she always used and something sharp and tangy that was uniquely Skye. It didn’t matter that they were possibly ruining their friendship if this ended badly or that all of their friends and parents had just lost their bets or that Robbie, Pietro and Wanda were literally in the same room, all that mattered was the two of them. 

It wasn’t a perfect kiss, it was an awkward angle and neither of them had had any practice but it was overwhelmingly blissful. 

“We should talk about this when we’re not within earshot of our best friends.” Skye whispered when they broke apart. She couldn’t smiling. Lila, the girl of her dreams, the one she’d been crushing on since she understood fucking attraction, liked her back! 

“Definitely. For now, let’s go to sleep.” Lila agreed, kissing Daisy again. She was nervous about this, Skye was complicated sometimes. But the one thing she knew was that she’d loved Skye since they were little and she wasn’t about to let that go now. 

“Welterusten, vlinder.” (Goodnight, butterfly.) Skye said sleepily, feeling genuinely happy to sleep for the first time in months. She tucked the comforter around them both, placing her head in the crux of Lila’s neck, where she always lay. 

“Night, Daisy.” Lila echoed, comfortably wrapping Skye, her girlfriend?, into her arms and holding on tight.

“We all owe Trip ten bucks.” Robbie grumbled when he heard the two girls breathing deepen, knowing they were asleep. Pietro and Wanda sighed and all five of them fell asleep happily, no bad dreams for any of them. It had been a good Christmas after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh they kissed finally! It’s actually not been that much of a slow burn lol but t be fair they’ve known each other for ages and I didn’t want to wait anymore
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading it’s not done by any means obvs lol


	13. Small Spaces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forther wants revenge and Skye has trauma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh this chapters a bit angsty 
> 
> WARNINGS: red room, past child abuse, death of a child, child torture, claustrophobia, bullying, overall creepy behaviour by Forther 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

The holidays flew by and before they knew it, it was February. Their workload had seriously increased and Skye was almost beginning to regret enrolling in two Academies at fourteen. 

Well, it was more the age thing she regretted. Everyone in her classes, bar her friends, looked at her like a child. Like she wasn’t capable of ripping them to shreds, turning their bones to dust if she wanted to. No one would ever find Forther’s body if she chose not to tell them. 

Apparently, those threats only work when you have proof and since she refused to release her Red Room files even with encryptions and code names, all she had was the memories seared into her brain and her skill sets. 

Forther was still pissed at her for Capture the Flag. If anything it increased his weird obsession with her and since she got with Lila, he’d taken to following her around campus as if trying to catch them kissing or something. 

Basically, he was being a fucking creep. 

She was at a punching bag in the gym when he finally made his move. Hammering her fists into the bag the way she was taught when she was five, perfected by canings and slaps and eventually, her parents gentle praise. Her mom spent hours in the gym at the Playground with her after she got shot by Ward, once she was cleared to start rehabbing her knee and lung of course. Mama trained with her when she could. May even used to teach her. Mostly Tai Chi or yoga, but that was mainly for control. 

_Jab, cross, jab, cross_. 

Her fists against the hard leather set a familiar rhythm, one that fills her soul with ease. Today wasn’t a good day, the world was too loud and too bright and Lila had to drag her to breakfast and somethings up with Piper and- 

Today just wasn’t a good day. 

_Jab, cross, jab, cross, jab, cross_. 

She didn’t like this gym at first. It was too bright and too empty and it reminded her of Russia. She could almost smell the harsh stench of bleach to clean up the blood, the blood _she_ spilled, and Madame’s harsh voice shouting in her ears. 

“еще раз или я перережу тебе горло.” (Again or I slit your throat.) It slithered round her mind like a snake, like the memories always did until her knuckles were cracked and bloody and her heartbeat was racing. 

_Jab, cross, “Нет! Вы хотите разочаровать родину? Сильнее!” (No! Do you want to disappoint the motherland? Again!)  
_

_Jab, cross, jab, jab, jab-_

Somebody grabs her shoulder roughly, she’s caught so off guard that she freezes and suddenly she’s being shoved in the supply closet. 

“What the fuck? Let me out!” She shouts through the door. It’s pitch black and there’s only standing or sitting room and it’s way, way too familiar. 

“I think someone has to bring you down a few pegs Romanoff.” Forther. Of course it’s him, the nutcase. This was his plan, scare her enough to rattle her into letting him take top spot on the leaderboard.

”So you decided that locking me in the closet was the way to do that? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve been out the closet for a while now, Forther. You can’t exactly go back in.” She tries to turn it into a joke but honestly, she’s panicking a little. She can’t quake the door down because all the doors are reinforced in the gyms, classrooms and labs to be “power-proof” because they’ve got a lot of enhanced kids nowadays. 

“We’ll see if you’re still saying that in a few hours.” He laughs maniacally and she wonders then if Forther and Yahontov _were_ related because they have the exact same laugh. Yahontov used to laugh like that every time she had to undergo water boarding training, electroshock training, roofie resistance, the isolation box-

The isolation box. That’s what this is, what it reminds her of. That’s why she’s panicking. The small space, lack of light, crazy psychopath on the other side of the door, it’s all too realistic to her old life. 

She was put in the isolation box five times during her six years in the Red Room. First time she was three, and she’d stolen an extra piece of bread for Katina, a girl in her dorm who hadn’t eaten for four days. Katina was five at the time, she was a diplomats daughter they had kidnapped and begun training because she had the same genes that Daisy had, Inhuman genes. They were going to train her for two years then put her through Terrigenesis, just like Daisy would do in two years. But she’d messed up during ballet and they were punishing her. If Daisy didn’t steal that bread then Katina would die. 

They caught her. Daisy went into the box for two days and Katina...Daisy found Katina’s body a week later in the woodshed. 

Huh, she hasn’t thought about herself as _Daisy_ for a long time. 

Forther’s footsteps fade away and she knows she’s on her own now. Fuck, of all days to leave her phone on the bench, why today? She can still hear her music blaring through the speakers, she thought she’d been alone. Now she’s stuck in this fucking closet and oh joy, now she’s struggling to breathe. 

_In and out, come on Skye, you’re a fucking Morse-Romanoff, breathe.  
_

Yeah, it’s going to be a long few hours.

* * *

“Hey, has anyone seen Skye?” Lila asks her friends in the common room. She hasn’t seen her since breakfast because it was an off day, so Daisy kinda drifted through classes then went to the gym. But now it’s past dinner time and nearly time for bed and she still hasn’t seen her girlfriend. 

“Don’t you have like a soul bond with her or something? Tell her through the telepathic waves that you want to make out with her?” Davis teases and Lila throws a pillow at him. He feigns shock as it hits home, (because she is her fathers daughter). 

“Last I heard she was still in the gym. But she hasn’t replied to the group chat in over four hours and she wasn’t at dinner.” Trip supplied and Lila felt cold dread creep up her spine. She knew Daisy had turned her phone to vibrate because she didn’t want to really talk today unless she had to, but missing dinner was concerning. She might need to drag her to meals but she at least made an attempt to make it to later ones. 

“I’ll come check with you, if you want?” Robbie offers. The three of them had gotten a lot closer over the holidays and she’d safely call Robbie her second best friend. 

They enter the gym ten minutes later. It just feels wrong, and Lila can tell that something bad happened. It feels like the calm after the storm, where you’re still waiting for things to get worse before they get better. 

Daisy’s music is still blaring. Some angry Russian band called IC3PEAK was pumping out the speakers, but there was no sign of Daisy. 

“Her stuffs still here.” Robbie pointed out, and Lila saw her bag, phone and water bottle on the bench. 

And then she heard it. The soft, panicked breaths coming from the supply closet. She walked over to the door and yanked out the...why the fuck was there a crowbar stuck in the lock? 

She handed the crowbar to a very confused Robbie and pulled the door open to reveal a crying, panicked Skye. 

“Daisy!” Lila cried, running straight to her girlfriend, but stopping right before she got there. “Zee, can you hear me?” 

Skye nodded jerkily, breaths coming in a bit slower as she was reintroduced to light and people. She’d been trapped in the fucking closet for the past five hours and she’d been managing to get her breaths back before tumbling back into the memories of the isolation box and Katina and Madame and Yahontov and, and, and, it was never ending and she was so tired. 

“Lila.” She breathed, like a breath of fresh air. Lila’s arms went around her and she concentrated hard on the vibrations of Lila’s heartbeat, matching her breathing to the slower pace. Vaguely, she saw Robbie just outside the closet but he already knew she had issues, so she didn’t really care if he saw. 

“Ik ben hier, Daisy, je bent in orde.” (I’m here, Daisy, you’re okay.) Lila hushed her girlfriend, making sure to keep her breathing steady so that Skye could match it and calm down a little. She continued whispering in any language she could remember, mostly random nonsense but Daisy was calming down and that was what mattered. 

“What happened, chica?” Robbie asked softly once Skye was breathing normally again. Clearly, someone had locked her in but the Rider needed a bit more information before it knew who to burn.

”I’ll only tell you if you promise not to let that demon in your head kill it.” Skye said quietly and Robbie frowned. “Please, I’ll tell Auntie Maria.” 

Robbie had to agree with that. He’d probably go to jail or something if he killed someone again, so he’d let Skye deal with it however he wanted to. 

“Tell us what happened though, baby.” Lila kissed the side of Skye’s head and the girl crumpled into Lila. 

“I was having a bad day so I came down here to punch something until the world made sense. Forther came up behind me and jumped me, he dragged me into the closet and locked me in. I’ve been in there for five hours and it...it just...uh, it reminded me of the Red Room.” Both Lila and Robbie tensed when she mentioned it and Skye hung her head. She was practically a trained assassin, she should have been able to fucking defend herself. 

“Hey no, we’re not mad at you. We’re mad at fucking Forther.” Lila calmed her, exchanging a dark glare with Robbie who nodded and hurried out to find Maria. Lila brought her girlfriend closer to her and rocked her slightly, letting Daisy cry into her chest. 

“You’re okay, baby, I got you.” Lila whispered into Daisy’s ear. “We’re okay.” 


	14. What Are Friends For?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We find out what’s wrong with Piper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters kinda cute whilst also a bit of angst just for spice 
> 
> Pipsy friendship rights we should have had more of it in canon so here is teenage pipsy 
> 
> WARNINGS: self harm, homophobia, gender identity issues, anorexia, red room, past child abuse 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“So...here we are. On the roof. Why are we on the roof?” Skye asked and Piper shrugged. Honestly, they didn’t quite know how they got up here. They were wandering a little aimlessly and suddenly they were on the roof of their dorm and they had a bottle of Skye’s precious Russian vodka in her hand. Skye never actually drank it, she just had it for emergencies even though she was literally fourteen years old. 

“Well, I was hoping to get drunk and forget my troubles so...” Piper trailed off and Skye gave them a look. 

“So you just wanted to get drunk alone? That’s kinda sad, Pipes.” 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence DJ.” Piper sighed, slugging another shot of vodka. It burned their throat and they had to fight not to cough. That would just be embarrassing, they’d seen Skye drink this stuff like water when she was thirteen in the Junior Academy. 

“Well, I’m here now so hand me the bottle.” Skye said, kicking off her boots and sitting on the roof, dangling her legs over the edge. Piper shivered in their hoodie, refusing to give Skye the bottle. 

“You’re fourteen, I’m not facilitating underage drinking.” Okay, technically, they were only sixteen so this was also underage drinking but they were still older than Skye. 

“Nice try, bottle please.” Piper still refused to give her back the bottle. 

“I just wanted drink in peace.” Piper groaned. 

“Ah, well, unfortunately you’re besties with an ADHD kid with a shit load of trauma and my girlfriends on a field trip so you’re stuck with me.” Skye teased and Piper grinned. 

“You’re still way too young.” 

“I’ve also killed people and been so high on experimental drugs that I saw God, whilst trying to escape from being hung upside down so I think a little bit of vodka will be fine.” Skye retorted, finally grabbing the bottle. 

“I don’t even know how to react to that.” Piper said incredulously, watching Skye take shots like it was fucking juice. 

“So, tell me my little non-binary friend, what’s wrong?” Skye’s not even affected by the incredibly strong alcohol she just threw back and Piper has to wonder if it’s her Inhuman genes or if she really was Russian. 

“My parents saw my binder.” Piper admits eventually, trying to keep the hurt of their voice. 

“I thought they were cool with this sort of thing?” 

“They’re cool with me being a lesbian, the non-binary thing? Not so much.” That was an understatement. As soon as Davis and his family had left, there’d been a screaming match and crying and- 

No. They weren’t thinking about it. 

“I’m sorry.” Skye says truthfully. She takes Piper’s cold hands in her warmer ones, (because Skye was always warm and no one could explain it) and squeezes gently. It makes Piper look up. If anyone would understand, it would be Skye right? 

“Can I show you something? And you won’t judge?” Piper hedged and Skye nodded with trusting eyes. 

Piper let go of Skye’s hand and rolled up their hoodie sleeve to reveal their arm. It still made them feel guilty to look at, the cuts. Lines and lines of razor thin slashes lines their inner arm all the way from their wrist to their elbow. 

“Is it only here?” Skye asked, still looking at Piper’s arm. Piper shook their head and tried to avoid Skye’s eyes when she eventually looked up. 

“Do you still do it?” 

“Only when I need to.” It had started when they were thirteen. Gender and sexuality was a confusing thing and whilst their parents were accepting of sexualities, gender was a sore subject. “Non-binary” fit Piper, it made sense. Unfortunately, their parents felt like they were losing their daughter, like Piper wasn’t even there anymore. 

“ _So what? Persephone is dead now?_ ” _Their mom had screamed, their dad’s face like thunder in the corner of the room.  
_

“Are you safe when you do it?” Skye asked, being Piper back to reality. They nodded, and Skye’s eyes tracked back to the cuts, checking for infections or if they should have had stitches. 

“Why aren’t you freaking out about this?” Piper asked hesitantly. Skye was barely reacting to this. 

“Because it makes sense. You’re going through a rough time and this made sense to you. You’re hurting inside so you try to make that pain external. I’ve been going to a psychiatrist for the past six years, I know all the jargon.” Skye explained gently. Piper nodded shyly and let their eyes fall back to their arm. It might be the alcohol in their system, but they don’t feel the itch in their bones right now. They don’t hear the call of the razor blade, the coppery smell of the blood escaping their body like rivers. It was...quiet. 

“And you haven’t...?” 

“Nah. I’ve thought about it, obviously. There’s a little voice in my head that wants me to sometimes but I go for a run instead.” Skye assured them. “You’re welcome to join me.” 

“You go running at five in the morning, I’d rather not.” Piper laughed, feeling a little lighter now that someone knew. “I just thought with the eating?”

”Oh. That. Uh, well my Ritalin sometimes means that I genuinely just forget about food, the chemicals mess up my eating schedule and the messages don’t tell my body that I’m hungry. So there’s that sometimes, but mostly it’s that stupid voice in my head. Red Room leftovers, they restricted food. It’s been six years but sometimes it still feels like I don’t deserve to eat.” Skye’s eyes were stormy and downcast and she gulped another shot of vodka before handing Piper back the bottle. 

“So I find an alternative?” Piper questioned, setting the vodka down. They didn’t really feel like drinking anymore. 

“Yep. At least that’s what the shrinks tell you. Colouring, running, punch something. The rubber band technique kinda works but it’s also just another form of self harm. I’m still trying to convince Auntie Maria to let us get a therapy dog but that’s a long process.” 

“Cool. Uh, thanks for this, I guess.” Piper said quietly, and Skye nodded. 

“You’ve watched me have panic attacks and nightmares and shit, the least I can do is help you with your shit. Come on, we’ll go spar.” Skye stood up and offered a hand to Piper who took it and they left the roof, the vodka bottle laid forgotten at the edge. 


	15. Studying and Strawberries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A studying session with the Legacies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly just fluff with some angst for spice lmao 
> 
> WARNINGS: slight mentions of anorexia, red room
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Little Legacies 

>>quakingbad: study sesh tonight? 

>>howlingwolf: PLEASE I NEED HELP

>>sonic: um does anyone understand

>>sonic: bio? pls? 

>>pikachu: I’ll help sonic 

>>JRrobinhood: I can help with english?

>>scarletwitch: ur a godsend 

>>quakingbad: I can do math 

>>quakingbad: and snacks? 

>>howlingwolf: anyone speak Spanish? 

>>ghostrider: I can’t believe u 

>>ghostrider: they’re all bilingual 

>>ghostrider: ME AND JOEY ARE LATINO

>>howlingwolf: oh yeah...sorry :( 

>>quakingbad: k 5:40 common room :)

* * *

“So what snacks did you provide us?” Pietro asked Skye as they gathered in the common room. Dinner had been at five so these were more for later. 

“K, I got strawberries, Takis, Skittles, plums, uh some German candy my mom sent, peanuts and Twizzlers.” Skye produced a bag from who knows where, placing it in the middle of the coffee table in front of the sofa. 

“Where do you even get this stuff?” Robbie asked, grabbing a bag of Skittles. They were the tropical ones, the ones Skye knew were his favourite. 

“Gotta keep some of my secrets.” Skye said cryptically, stealing the strawberries and placing one in her mouth. She was still weird with candy. The Red Room strictly forbade their girls to ever have so she hadn’t tried it until she was eight and that hadn’t ended well. Sugar high on extreme mode. She can vaguely remember Mack giving her sugar free gummy bears after that when he babysat her and those became her favourite. 

And there was the whole ongoing battle she had with food anyway, so better to stick natural sugars and not push herself too far right now. 

“Okay, so I have an essay to do for English and the math homework and an essay for Professor May and a Spanish translation so uh, help?” Trip complained as he entered the room, dragging Piper and Davis behind him.

”Did you leave all of it to last minute or are you just being prepared?” Lila laughed, tugging Skye into her side. Skye complied with a smirk, her laptop resting on her knees as she ate another strawberry, her eyes never leaving Lila’s as she did it.

This girl was going to be the death of her. 

“Okay, if you two are just going to eye fuck each other all night then please vacate all public areas.” Lincoln groaned and Skye gave him one of her famous glares. He withered and hid behind Joey before his chair was quaked over. 

“I’m glad you’re so interested in our sex life, Linc, but please remember that we’re underage and I’m a good Catholic girl who wants to wait till marriage.” Lila grinned and Skye looked at her in feigned shock. 

“Oh no, are we going to hell just for making out? Is a lightning bolt going to strike us because we *gasp* held hands? We’ve slept in the same bed, that’s basically a sin!” Skye cried and Lincoln looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up. 

“Skye, babe, how do you know anything about the Catholic faith? Weren’t you raised by evil Russians and then SHIELD agents and Avengers?” Piper laughed. 

“Mack and Yoyo are Catholic, they taught me about it when I was ten and my moms were on back-to-back missions one summer. I don’t really believe in it all, but it’s still kinda cute.” Skye explained, barely even making eye contact with them anymore as she scribbled down her math homework. With her ADHD, it either took her twenty minutes to do three pages of equations or a week to do a page, there was no in between. 

“Okay, Lila, god of English, tell me about the Great Gatsby?” Trip called from the other side of the table. Lila sighed and shifted away from Skye to lean over the table to explain the themes, issues and characterisation in the Great Gatsby. 

They all faded to their own little bubbles of conversation, sharing tips and straight up answers for everyone in Professor Truman’s math class. The guy taught at the speed of light and the only one who properly understood it was Skye. Math made sense to her, everything had a purpose. There was only one right answer, it wasn’t like English or Geography or something like that, where the answer was open to interpretation. 

“Anyone speak Latin? These translations make no sense.” Joey called out from Lincoln’s lap and Skye perched on the edge of their chair. 

“From eastern lands that first see the sun. From pride takes initiative all perdition. Uh, that one is he gives twice, who gives promptly. Dude, what class is this even for?” Skye translated, writing down the meanings for Joey. 

“Religious and Moral studies. It’s a new elective for next semester, but they ran a trial session last week.” Joey said and Skye nodded. She flipped the pen around in her fingers, trying to find that easy place her brain had slotted into five minutes ago so she could continue to study, but there was too many distractions now. Lincoln and Joey’s heartbeats were beating at different paces, assaulting her with vibrations. Piper and Davis were getting rowdy, fighting over the last Twizzler. Robbie, Trip and Pietro were talking about Gatsby and Lila and Wanda were scribbling down the Russian translations she’d written for them earlier for their languages class. It was all too much and she felt too restless.

”Hey babe? You okay?” Lila’s voice broke through the fog that had suddenly drifted into her head and she blinked slowly, combing through the noises and vibrations and distractions.

”I need to go for a run.” She said softly, trying to convey with her eyes what she meant. Lila nodded, she understood. Skye kissed her on the head and left shortly after, headphones already cranked all the way up. 

“She okay?” Trip asked once Skye had left. This was honestly, a normal occurrence at this point. Skye would study with them for a couple of hours and then something would happen and she’d have to leave before things started to shake or she went silent. They’d all take the shaking over the silence any day.

”Let her run it off.” Lila said nonchalantly, they’d developed a code at this point. If something was wrong, Skye would quake her ever so gently, just enough to send a cool breeze through Lila’s body to let her know she needed help. If Lila needed her help, she’d use their own version of sign language, a set of codes that only they could recognise. Or they both used morse code. 

So even though she knew Skye was okay, she still breathed a little easier when Skye entered their dorm hours later and headed straight for the shower. She exited smelling of lemons and coconut and she whispered good night in Dutch and Lila fell asleep dreaming of quiet moments on dark battlefields in their future. Light in the darkness. 


	16. Blanket Forts and Nerds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye misses Lila so they have a movie night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pure fluff and a little bit of background of Skye growing up in SHIELD. 
> 
> WARNINGS: past child kidnapping and attempted brainwashing
> 
> Also, Conan Gray and Achilles Come Down are elite okay
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“SKYE DAISY MORSE-ROMANOFF! IF I HEAR CONAN GRAY ONE MORE TIME I SWEAR TO FUCK IM BREAKING YOUR SPEAKER!” Piper yelled when they walked past the dorm for the third time in eight hours and Skye was still listening to Lookalike. Earlier it was Achilles Come Down on repeat but she seemed to have finally transitioned. 

Currently, Skye was just trying to occupy her brain. She’d already been for a twelve mile run, worked out, done her homework, made the boys breakfast and actually cleaned her and Lila’s side of the room but now she was just bored. And sad. 

“I will stop playing it when my girlfriend returns but she’s not back till next Saturday so unfortunately, you’re all getting my sad playlist whilst I redecorate.” Skye said, though she turned the music down. Wanda shot a thankful look over her book at Piper who rolled their eyes.

”Jesus fucking Christ, DJ. She’s literally only gone for a week to visit her dad whilst he’s on leave.” Piper said, narrowly avoiding the pillow flung at their head. 

“And that’s too long! I miss her!” Skye whined and at that moment, Wanda and Piper suddenly remembered that Skye was only fourteen. It was easy to forget sometimes, she acted so mature and could kill you in 789 different ways, 78 involving spaghetti. But in reality, she was a fourteen year old with boatloads of PTSD and trauma, it made sense that she was uncomfortable without Lila. They were each other’s anchors, tying them both to land. If Lila wasn’t there, Skye would drift off and drown in the force of the waves of her dark past. If Skye wasn’t there, Lila would be lost and without direction, just swimming endlessly until she drowned. 

“Okay we get it, you have separation anxiety, you little simp. We got that from your five hour FaceTime call yesterday. Let’s do something fun.” Piper said. 

“Girls and Piper night!” Wanda giggled, ignoring Piper’s glare. Skye grinned and turned off her music, already jumping down from her bunk. She still never made a sound which was downright unnerving especially at three in the morning. 

“Blanket fort and movies?” Skye suggested. 

“Yes please!” Wanda agreed happily and Piper nodded in agreement. They were still trying to introduce the twins to modern culture but it was slow going when they were relying on Trip, Davis, Piper and Lila who grew up in SHIELD and on a literal farm. Lincoln and Robbie and Joey were all useless because Robbie watched car movies religiously and Lincoln and Joey decided to complete their ultimate stereotypes by being _very_ into musical theatre. And Skye...well, she was still catching up herself. 

Their fort was built in an hour. They pushed the bunk beds together and covered the sides with sheets and blankets, the mattresses connecting in the middle. Wanda went on a supply run and came back with snacks and Robbie who looked a little sad that he hadn’t been invited so he slid in next to Skye who immediately cuddled into him. Robbie and Lila were her favourite human pillows, because Lila was her girlfriend and she loved her, and Robbie was like a teddy bear once you broke down his walls. 

“You two space heaters are going to stay over there before you give the rest of us heatstroke.” Piper smirked. Robbie had a literal _demon_ in him so he was always hot, and Skye was just naturally warm and they _still_ couldn’t explain it. Seriously, Fitzsimmons and Lincoln had all conducted fucking studies to explain it and they couldn’t. They were just going with “weird Inhuman genes and growing up in Russia”. 

“You love it secretly.” Skye said with an eye roll, handing Robbie a pack of tropical Skittles from under the bed. He patted her on the head in thanks and she pressed her elbow into his ribs until he wheezed and she laughed. Piper and Wanda rolled their eyes at their antics, you’d think they were siblings at this point, before selecting a movie. 

“Percy Jackson?” Robbie asked when the start credits rolled and Skye literally froze.

”Absolutely not.” She stated. 

“Why not? It’s an okay movie.” Piper defended. 

“It’s not accurate! To Greek mythology or Riordan’s books!” Skye said about the offending movie, using her foot to change the movie. Her toe managed to click off the movie and select Lord of the Rings instead. 

“And how would you know about the legit ness of Percy Jackson?” Piper accused and Skye actually blushed. 

“The summer I was nine was a very long summer in the Playground. Fitzsimmons babysat me a lot and Fitz was recovering from the “Pod incident” so they taught me about Greek mythology. They were very offended by the film.” Skye explained. That would explain the poster of Achilles and Patroclus she had on her wall. 

“Wasn’t that the summer your mom was shot?” Robbie said lightly. 

“She was in the med bay or in bed a lot at the start. I don’t think they wanted me in there for hours all day, so if Mama was busy then someone would babysit.” Skye explained without looking at them. It was a hard summer. Ward was fresh in all of their minds and her mom was on the verge of death for a long time before she pulled through. She can still hear shots sometimes, still feel needles in her skin and hear those words, those goddamn words that would have turned her into a Winter Soldier. It still haunts her, stalking her nightmares and even days. She refuses to enter a Quinjet unless she knows the pilot or was actually allowed to pilot herself. Her moms weren’t very happy when they found out that Aunt May and Uncle AC let her fly sometimes. 

“Welcome back to today’s episode of Skye’s childhood was cooler than ours...” Piper remarked to break the sad tension that had filled the blanket fort and unfortunately they did not manage to avoid Skye’s pillow this time, however it did protect them from the knife that entered the pillow a second later. “Hey! No weapons near this beautiful face you know the rules!” 

“я все еще могу убить тебя.” (I can still kill you.) Skye smirked as Piper yanked the throwing blade out of the pillow. 

“One of these days one of us is going to be fluent in Russian and then you won’t be able to threaten us.” Wanda piped up. 

“я не буду задерживать дыхание.” (I won’t hold my breath.) Skye laughed. Robbie placed a finger over her lips to silence her as the movie finally started and soon enough they were all enthralled by the movie, continuing on to the other ones. They fell asleep around five in the morning, Wanda cuddled round Piper like a koala and Skye tucked into a ball on Robbie like a cat. 

“Okay, next time you should ask the rest of us to movie night.” Trip called when he checked in the next morning and Skye flung her knife so close to his head he had to duck and it hit the wall beside him. 

“Okay, note to self, don’t wake up baby assassins. Got it. Sweet dreams, darlings.” 


	17. An Experiment at Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie has a question and Skye’s in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooft an angsty chapter with some QuakeRiderButterfly friendship mixed in. That’s not even a ship name or pairing but I’ve made it one 
> 
> WARNINGS: past child abuse, past religious child abuse, past internalised homophobia, red room, anorexia
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Hello, good morning, I need help.” Robbie said as he sat at the breakfast table. Skye ruffled his hair and rolled her eyes at Lila, who still had hickeys from Skye. The girl was vicious sometimes and apparently, Skye’s gift to Lila for her birthday was rum, her favourite chocolate, (how in the hell Skye imported it from France she’ll never know, considering the supplier shut down three years ago) and a make out session. The rest of the group were just happy they’d avoided the lake that day. And the common room. And the roof. 

“What can we do for you, petit démon?” (little demon) Lila asked him, trying to ignore Skye’s still full plate. Her eating was getting worse, she could barely manage one meal a day at this point. Lila was considering telling her moms but Skye had begged her not to, not yet. After exams if it got worse. Lila was just conflicted between wanting to tell someone who could actually help and keeping her promises to her girlfriend. 

“I might not be as straight as I originally thought.” Robbie admitted, glancing nervously at Skye’s plate. He gave a knowing look to Lila who shrugged her shoulders, all of this unnoticed by Skye who was finishing her essay on the types of undercover through history for her Ops class. 

“Davis is going to be very upset he’s going to be the token straight, but tell us more.” Lila prompted. 

“I think I like Pietro.” Robbie said softly. Lila sighed and handed Skye ten dollars at his admission, who accepted it with a smirk. 

“Ask him out.” She advised. 

“How are you two not even phased by this? I tell you that I might be gay and that I have a crush on my male best friend and nothing?” Robbie exclaimed indignantly. He kind of wanted this to be a big deal because it was a big deal for him. Before going to the Academy and meeting the gayest group on fucking Earth, he was taught that homosexuality was wrong. Dirty, blasphemous, sick. When he had his first ever crush on a boy, way back in second grade, he told his uncle and Uncle Eli doused him in holy water and made him say the rosary thirty times over. 

Basically, he was fucking terrified. The Rider wasn’t too happy but accepted it eventually and he’d already told Gabe, who’d accepted it with a laugh. 

“I could have told you that, hermano. So tell me, who’s the lucky dude and do I get to meet any of these super spies you hang around?” Gabe was headed to Harvard in the fall, and though Robbie still felt guilty he hadn’t told him about the Rider and why Eli was dead and the whole SHIELD thing as a whole, he was glad he could share this with his brother. 

“If we made a big deal about everyone in our group who came out, we’d have to start throwing parties once a week. If you want us to make a big deal then we’ll gladly buy you flags and shirts and we’ll all wear your flag colours for a week, but I didn’t think you’d want that, Robbie.” Lila said, squeezing his hand affectionately. Skye nodded in agreement, raising her yellow water bottle in a toast. 

“To Roberto Reyes, the newest gay in the community.” She laughed as Robbie swatted her. 

“With that out the way, when are you asking Pietro out?” Lila pressed. 

“He doesn’t even like me.” Robbie protested. 

“Oh for fucks sake. He does, or do you not remember Christmas and every single study session? The boy is constantly draped over you or flirting with you!” Lila argued, becoming more aware of Skye’s plate. One problem at a time, Barton, she reminded herself. 

“Ugh fine, what do I do?” Robbie whined, putting his head on the table in defeat, only to be startled back up by a very familiar throwing knife with an engraved handle next to his head. “What the fuck Skye? No knives before 11!”

“Just text him you idiot! My god, the girls in the fucking _Red Room_ were more equipped to deal with this than you.” 

“Baby, the girls in the Red Room with you were like, eight.” Lila giggled. 

“And even they could understand how to ask someone out. We were actually taught how to seduce people to do what we wanted at like, seven years old.” Skye said, trying to keep her tone light but failing miserably. She was at the point where she could joke about it, but she hadn’t quite perfected it yet. 

“That’s horrifying.” Robbie quipped, stealing the waffle off Skye’s plate. Lila gave him a withering look. “What? She’s not going to eat them.” 

“She might have!” Lila defended. 

“It wasn’t likely.” Robbie shot back, mouth full of lukewarm waffle. 

“Literally sitting right here guys.” Skye reminded them. 

“Skye, darling, platonic love of my life, were you going to eat your waffle?” Robbie asked. “Might I add, this waffle is disgusting.” 

“It’s coeliac, of course it’s gross to you. And no, I wasn’t planning on it.” Skye answered, avoiding Lila’s concerned eyes. 

“What about lunch and dinner?” Lila asked softly and Skye shifted uncomfortably. 

“Maybe dinner. I don’t feel like eating today. I have ballet later anyway.” Skye said. Robbie and Lila shared another glance. 

“Babe, you’ve gotta eat.” Lila said. 

“I know it’s hard, chica, but you gotta stay healthy. I can practically see your bones.” Robbie added. 

“I’m trying.” Skye whispered, trying desperately not to cry. The feedback was building up, background noises becoming ocean storms in her head. 

“We know and you’re doing amazing, Zee. But you gotta keep trying.” Lila said, going to hug her close but Skye flinched away. It stung, but it happened sometimes. 

“I have class soon, I’ll see you at dinner.” Skye deflected, ignoring the worried looks from Robbie and Lila. She grabbed her backpack and jacket from the seat and slid off the table. 

She began walking out after kissing Lila goodbye but the world was all wrong. It was all misshapen features and blurry faces and sharp noises. Like she was seeing it through fog or a screen, it just wasn’t right. Black spots danced in her vision and suddenly she was falling. 

Lila watched Skye sway on her feet as she walked and knew exactly what was about to happen. Skye hadn’t ate for nearly 48 hours. She was having nightmares so bad they rocked the room and the red band around her left wrist became more and more scarred as time progressed. She caught Skye as she fainted and lay her gently on the ground, telling Robbie to go get Maria. 

Everything comes to an end eventually, and Skye’s complete disregard for her health had finally reached it’s peak. 


	18. Help Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobbi come to see Skye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit of a mess again like it’s fluffy but also angsty? 
> 
> WARNINGS: anorexia, red room, past child abuse, medical trauma, past trauma
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

As a parent, and even after six years Bobbi still finds it weird to say that, there are three phone calls you don’t want to receive from your kid’s school.

1) Your child has been expelled. 

2) Your child got in a fight and is now suspended. 

3) Your child has gone missing from school. 

However, Bobbi has now found that there is actually a fourth phone call you don’t want to get from your kid’s school. Maria phones her at two and she’s arrived at the school by five, storming up to the medical ward as soon as she gets there. 

4) Your child is anorexic and passed out due to a lack of food and is now in a hospital bed. 

She doesn’t even know when Skye got so bad, she was on the other side of the country. She couldn’t even let Nat know because some fucking German’s were up to something weird and she’d been sent to infiltrate undercover. These people were good so she couldn’t even use the encrypted hard-lines and back doors and codes that Skye had set up for them. 

Maria meets her outside Skye’s room with an apology already on her lips. Bobbi cuts her off. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” 

“I promised you and Nat I’d look out for her. I didn’t see this.” Maria says guiltily, and it echoes Bobbi’s thoughts. None of them saw this. They thought she’d gotten better after Thanksgiving but evidently, she hadn’t. 

“Skye has been practically trained in lying and covering things up. Remember that time she had the flu and didn’t tell us until she almost developed pneumonia?” Bobbi reminded Maria gently, trying to soothe the woman’s blame. “You have an entire school to look after, plus Big SHIELD stuff and Avengers.” 

“You can go in. I’ll go call Garner.” Maria said, changing the subject instead. Bobbi nodded but stalled before entering. This wasn’t like Skye’s nightmares when she was ten, it couldn’t be solved with a hug and gentle words. 

Eventually, she gathers the courage to enter the room. God, she hates medical wards and hospital beds. Before the “Ward incident” it was just a natural hazard of the job, but now it was almost tainted. The beeping of a pulse monitor and the smell of antiseptic all just reminds her of the time she nearly died and Skye nearly became a HYDRA soldier. 

“Mom?” Skye’s voice is weak and groggy, she’s been out for around four hours according to Maria. They brought her here after she fainted and she woke up a couple of times, then fell back asleep. 

“Hey, Rockstar.” Bobbi crosses to Skye’s bed and tried to ignore the memories that surge of an eight year old Skye in a HYDRA facility, strapped to a chair with cuts up and down her arms. This is not like that. There is no one Bobbi can hurt or kill for harming her daughter. 

You can’t kill something that’s inside someone’s mind. 

“прости меня, мама.” (I’m sorry, Mom.) Skye whispers, eyes filled with tears. This is not the Skye she knows, the girl with a sarcastic remark behind every sentence and eyes filled with fire. This is someone else, someone scared. Someone who needs help but didn’t know how to ask for it. 

“What happened, baby girl?” Bobbi asks, sitting in the chair beside Skye’s bed. It’s uncomfortable and hard, much like the ones in the Playground. It’s not helping the memories that keep popping up in her mind of her fucked up knee and shot in her lung. 

“I don’t know. One day everything was fine, then it all went weird. You know how my ADHD meds make me forget about meals sometimes. It was that at first, but then I kept remembering stuff in the Red Room.” Skye explains quietly. She looks like the child she is, rather than the strong agent in training she pretends to be sometimes. She looks a lot more like Daisy, when they first adopted her, before the name change and legal adoption and acceptance of Bobbi and Nat as her parents. Bobbi didn’t think she’d ever see her again, but Skye was always full of surprises. 

“The food restrictions?” Bobbi asked. It wasn’t that long ago that Nat finally told her about her own childhood in the Red Room. The fact that both her fiancé and her daughter went through that makes her want to hunt down every fucking Soviet, KGB, trainer, anyone she can find who hurt her girls. 

“Yeah.” Skye breathes. “We’d sit down at the table and all I could hear was Madame’s voice in my ears telling me that I didn’t deserve it. Never would deserve it. I’d disappointed you, the motherland, the world. So, I just stopped...” 

“Eating, Rockstar. You stopped letting yourself get in situation where she could hurt you again.” Bobbi finished for her. It made sense now. Skye wasn’t doing this to lose weight or because she thought she needed to be perfect, she was doing it to protect herself. 

“It’s stupid. That was a long time ago. I should be over it now.” Skye says bitterly. 

“Don’t you ever say that. You don’t have to get over anything, no matter how long ago it was.” Bobbi scolds her. 

“How am I supposed to be an agent if I can’t even eat properly?” Skye says angrily, but it’s anger directed at herself.

”You’ll get help, звезда. You can’t do this all on your own.” Bobbi tells her and Skye finally looks at her. She’s exhausted, Bobbi can tell. Maybe she did go into the Academy too early, she’s only fourteen after all. 

“I’m sorry I’m such a screwup.” Skye says, tears falling now. Bobbi gets out her chair and slides into the bed next to Skye, wrapping her up in her arms. 

“You’re not a screwup. You’ve just had a shitty hand dealt to you. You’re gonna do amazing things someday, but right now, let us help you.” Bobbi hushes her, and Skye cries until she runs out of tears. The bed shakes precariously a couple of times but Skye’s got good control on her powers now, and nothing more than that happens. 

“Can I...can I go home? Just for a little bit. I need to be back before exams but please, Mom, can we go home?” Skye pleads and Bobbi wouldn't even think of saying no. It’ll give Skye a chance to get her eating under control in an environment she’s known for years. Maria was sending her reports of Skye’s progress in school, Skye was top of her classes anyway, so she won’t miss too much. 

“Of course, Rockstar. Your exams are May, right?” Skye nods. “It’s only March, you can stay home until the end of April.” 

“I’m guessing that I’ve got a session with Dr Garner planned?” 

“Honey, you’ve got about a hundred sessions with Garner planned.” That gets a laugh out of Skye and Bobbi’s just happy to see her smile. 

“Can Lila come in now?” Skye asks and Bobbi raises an eyebrow. 

“Number one, how did you know she was there and number two, when were you planning on telling us that you two finally got together? I had to hear it from Clint!”

”You're forgetting about those vibration powers I have. Once you’ve lived with people full time, you learn to recognise their vibrations. She’s outside. And uh, maybe in the summer?” Skye giggles. 

“The summer? I’m hurt that you were going to keep it that long.” Bobbi feigns shock and Skye rolls her eyes before snuggling back into her side. 

“I’m really glad you came, Mom.” She whispers and Bobbi strokes a hand through her hair. It’s blue again, she must have dyed it at one point. 

“I’ll always come, Skye, you know that.” 

“I forget sometimes.” Skye says, leaving into Bobbi’s touch. 

“Luckily, we’ll always help you remember. Now, I’m going to go help Maria whilst you talk to your girlfriend.” 

“Love you, Mom.” Skye says before Bobbi gets out of her bed. 

“Love you too, детка.” Skye looks a lot more like herself now and Bobbi thanks God for that. The fire is back in her eyes and though she’s far too thin and pale, Bobbi thinks that she’s going to be okay. It’s going to take time and work and long nights crying, but eventually, she’ll get there.


	19. Shakespeare and the Iliad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I kid you not, this is just Skye and Lila being cute and fluffy at the Playground...that’s it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s literally fluff with books 
> 
> I totally copied innertimetraveldevice btw with the hair braiding go check out their stuff cos it’s amazing (lmao I had to shout them out because I get so many ideas from their stuff) but yeah hair braiding is the language of the lesbians 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Zee...we do not need to get any gayer. We are literally over exceeding our gay limit right now, and I didn’t even know that could happen.” Lila complained. It was one of her weekend visits to the Playground since Skye had gone on break from school. Her dad had very conveniently been stationed there whilst Skye was recovering so she could use that as an excuse if anyone complained that they were getting special treatment. 

“I disagree. I say we’re not gay enough!” Skye defended with a laugh. She didn’t even look at the target she was practicing with before throwing her knife, hitting the bullseye. She wasn’t technically supposed to be doing heavy training but getting Skye to sit still and stop was a feat that no one wanted to attempt. 

“So, you want to take one of the SUVs out to the woods tonight, open the sunroof so we can stargaze, and you want me to read you Shakespeare and you want to read me the Iliad?” It was a strange request, Skye had to admit, but she’d been feeling shitty for months now and she just wanted a cute night with her girlfriend without having to worry about roommates and parents and agents and even once, horrifically, her therapist. 

“Yes. You can’t tell me it’s not a cute idea, babe.” 

“It’s cute...if completely ridiculous. We’re not even supposed to be off base by ourselves. Not with whoever that group your mom was chasing in Germany have been around.” Lila warned, but she’d basically already agreed and that was enough for Skye. 

“You’re forgetting that you’re going out with Quake. I’ll protect you.” Skye slid her arms around Lila and started kissing her neck. 

“Must you two be all over all the time? Some of us just ate lunch.” Hunter’s voice called from the other end of the training room and Skye barely even lifted her head from Lila’s neck, where she was sucking a rather aggressive hickey. It wasn’t like Lila was complaining. 

“And some of us are anorexics so fuck off Hunter.” Skye’s voice vibrates Lila’s chest and made her giggle. 

“I miss the days when you wouldn’t talk to us.” Hunter grumbled. 

“я с удовольствием вернусь к строго русскому языку, если вы этого хотите.” (I will gladly go back to strictly Russian if that’s what you want.) Skye shot back. Lila put a hand on her head so stop her from continuing this argument. 

“Genoeg.” (Enough.) Lila said and Skye whined but accepted, removing her knife from the target and glaring at Hunter. 

“Do any of you bloody spawn speak strictly English?” Hunter called at their backs as they left the training room, only to be cut off by Skye’s knife hitting the wall above his head. 

* * *

“You are completely ridiculous.” Lila said as Skye piled even more blankets into the SUV. “When did you even learn to drive?” 

“What me and Uncle Hunter get up to when he babysits is between me and and Uncle Hunter.” Skye replied. She was practically glowing, Lila didn’t think she’d ever seen Skye look more beautiful. She didn’t even look that different, her weight hadn’t gone up, but it hadn’t gone down so that was a good sign. Garner said she was good to go back to school next week. Skye was wearing cuffed jeans and converse, (because she was a devout bisexual) and a tank top and Lila could see every curve of Skye’s petite frame. She wasn’t leering of course, Jesus, she was sixteen not uncontrollable. Skye was just showing a lot of skin right now, and Lila was into it. 

Dear god, she was so gay. 

“Uh hello? Earth to Lila?” Daisy’s fingers snapped in front of her face and Lila realised that she hadn’t heard what Skye was telling her. 

“Huh?” 

“I asked if you wanted to go to the creek. It’s in the middle of the woods but the path is clear enough to drive.” Skye explained, smirking when she realised why Lila had zoned out. 

“Sounds great. Also, you should wear that tank top more often.” 

“You like it?” Skye asked. Honestly, she hasn’t even thought that Lila would find her...well, attractive, in it when she put it on. She never found herself attractive in that way, all flat curves and muscles and scars, she actually thought she was too ugly for Lila to like her. Garner told her that that was because she was trained to use her looks to her advantage but also told she wasn’t worth anything, so those contradictory statements messed up her view of herself. 

And if that wasn’t a head trip, she didn’t know what was. 

“Very much.” Lila answered, kissing Daisy gently on the forehead. Daisy just shook her head and grabbed a hoodie, her moms old Academy one, it still swamped her, sliding into the front seat. 

“I can’t believe you’re driving before me. You’re still only fourteen.” Lila complained as Skye pulled out of the Playground hangar and onto the ramp that led them out to the woods. 

“The advantages of being a Russian assassin at the age of eight.” 

“One of many.” Lila retorted, and Skye rolled her eyes. Lila knew a lot about her past, the basics of the Red Room were taught in the Academy after all. Yeah, that history class hadn’t been very fun. But Lila didn’t know the depths of what happened there because Skye couldn’t talk about it. She tried, the words crawling up her throat and resting on her tongue but then they would get stuck like glue. She couldn’t talk about it, not yet. 

“I’m not the one that’s going to take over the Comms department by the age of 25.” Skye teased, making Lila blush. Sometimes, especially times like this, where they felt like the only people in the world, Skye didn’t know how she got lucky enough to have Lila. She was broken, a tad psychopathic at times if you caught her in the wrong mood, and riddled with trauma, not to mention ADHD. But here was Lila, who was smart and gorgeous and perfect and, goddamn it, she loved her. Skye loved Lila more than anything in the world and that was dangerous sometimes, because if something happened to Lila, Skye wasn’t sure what’d she’d do. 

“You’re probably going to take over the whole fucking organisation by the time you finish the Academy so let’s not get too hasty.” Lila said eventually, noting how Skye didn’t even need to look at the road she knew it that well. 

“Can you imagine it? Me and you running SHIELD one day?” Skye said. 

“It’s a nice dream. But you want to be a field agent, and I feel like the Avengers want you too.” Lila said, looking back at the road. 

“I’m pretty sure I already have a spot on their bloody press tour for when they announce the new phase of Avengers, but I don’t want that. They’d take you in a heartbeat too, Lil. Don’t doubt your skills like that.” Skye pulled in to the edge of the creek and stopped the car. She pushed the button for the sunroof to open and pushed down the seats so it formed a bed in the car. “Now, cuddles.” 

Lila laughed and moved into the back, grabbing her favourite blanket from the pile. It was a SHEILD blanket she’d had for god knows how long, the stitching was practically falling out and it definitely did not arrive the weird gray colour it had turned after so many washes. She spread it over her legs and opened her arms to Skye who lay down on top of her. 

“Look! There’s the Big Dipper! And Hercules!” Skye pointed out excitedly. Lila looked through the sunroof and saw all those stars looking down on them. Skye had obviously been planning this for a while, because it was the first clear night in a long time and the stars they could see here were the ones they couldn’t always see at the Academy or the farm. 

“Which ones your favourite?” Lila asks quietly, wrapping her legs around Skye’s to pull her even closer. Skye’s practically purring in contentment, something she barely ever does because she finds it embarrassing but Lila finds it adorable. Her girlfriend purrs when she’s happy like a cat, what’s not to love? 

“There was a star I could always see in Russia. They used to let me train in the woods like these when I had been good, so it wasn’t very often. But back in Stalingrad, you could always see the Little Bear. So I took it that it was my star, the one that looked after me. I know it’s dumb but it helped.” 

“I think that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard you say, baby.” Lila whispers in her ear. Skye’s eyes light up when she talks about the good parts of Russia. She misses it sometimes, not the Red Room obviously, but Russia in general. It was a whole different world to America and she would always miss it. 

“Okay, tell me Shakespeare now.” Skye said and Lila rolled her eyes. She loved Shakespeare as much as the next person but Skye had a fascination with it, that was endearing but annoying sometimes because she couldn’t sit still long enough to read and understand it without loading up on Ritalin and zoning out completely, which was incredibly unhealthy, so Lila just read it to her. To be fair, Lila couldn’t really understand Greek myths unless they were read to her like fairy tales, whereas Skye could read the Iliad and the Odyssey whenever she wanted. It made no sense to anyone but them, but it worked. 

“Hamlet or Macbeth, I’ve got both.” 

“Macbeth, please, babe.” Skye replied, pulling her weighted blanket further around herself, twisting around to face Lila so she could play with the hand that wasn’t holding the book. 

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps this petty pace from day to day...” 

* * *

“Can I braid your hair whilst you read?” Lila asks. They’ve finished Macbeth and were sitting talking quietly about anything and everything. 

“I thought you said we were gay enough already? That’s the most lesbian activity I can think of.” Skye says with a smirk. She turns around though and shakes out her ponytail, handing Lila two hair bands. “Of course though, butterfly.” 

“So, Achilles and Patroclus were totally together right?” Lila asked, running her fingers through Skye’s hair to get the tangles out. It’s still blue, though a little more muted now. It was incredibly long now, she hadn’t really cut it since she got that massive cut after the “Ward incident” and got chewing gum stuck so badly that May had to cut it out. Coulson wasn’t allowed to feed her alone after that. She was nine. So now, it’s past her waist and normally kept up in neat braids or ponytails or buns. 

“Oh definitely. You know, we’re kinda like Achilles and Patroclus. Minus the death part hopefully.” Skye comments, tilting her head so Lila could get better access. 

“Here’s praying.” 

“Okay, so I’ll continue?” 

“Please.” Lila said, pressing a quick kiss to Skye’s bare shoulder that makes her shiver before going back to her hair. They’ve had a talk and come to an agreement that they weren’t going to have sex until Skye was at least sixteen, which was only a year away. It just didn’t feel right to do it before then and they both needed time to come to terms with that kind of thing. So they were sticking to making out and if things got too heated too quickly, they had a safe word. 

“Rasputin” didn’t seem like a word either of them would use off the cuff anyway. 

“Unmoved as death, Achilles shall remain, though prostate Greece will bleed at every vein: the raging chief in frantic passion lost, blind to himself, and useless to his host, unskilled to judge the future by the past, in blood and slaughter shall repent at last...” 


	20. Exams are Damaging to the Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s exam season.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just more fluff really. I dont know what’s happening but it’s gonna be fluffy for like two more chapters unless I change my mind and then there will be angst 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“You know, I thought enrolling in a fucking spy school meant that I wouldn’t have to learn about the fucking Great Depression and Tsarism in bloody Russia, but apparently, I was wrong.” Lincoln complained at their study group one night. Joey rubbed his shoulders affectionately and Lincoln turned his head to kiss him. 

“Really? In front of my salad?” Skye said sarcastically from the floor. God knows why she was even here, her exams were already over. She got to take her written ones in a tiny office with a single song on a loop in the background. She chose грустная сука by IC3PEAK. Her examiner hadn’t been very happy with the endless repeat of an angry Russian screaming in a language she couldn’t understand, which Skye found hilarious. The exams were long as hell and ranged from English questions to History questions to math equations and problems to translations in Greek and defunct Latin to code breaking. And that was just the Comms exam. 

All three Academies had rigorous exam procedures. Ever since the HYDRA reveal they’d taken to trying to flush out as many weak kids as they could out of the Academies, as those kids would be far more likely to enlist in HYDRA and go undercover back in SHIELD or the CIA or one of the other agencies that scouted the Academies. So, they made up horrific exams at the end of every year to reduce class sizes. There were 300 first years per Academy this year. They were planning to downsize to 200 for second year, 90 for third year and just 70 for fourth year. That was only 210 kids to graduate the Academy every year. 

Which meant a fuck ton of pressure on everyone. 

“Like you and Lila haven’t permanently scarred us all with making out whenever you bloody feel like it, Romanoff.” Robbie said, drawing Pietro closer to him. They’d finally gotten together about two weeks ago, after they’d gone a “walk” which was code for making out at the lake. Those poor fish had really seen it all. 

“Okay you two, that’s enough. Some of us want to make it to second year.” Piper broke them up before they started wrestling. They almost wanted to leave them to it, they hadn’t seen this playful side of Skye since the start of the year, but someone would either end up against the wall or burned, probably both. 

“Here, babe, play with your knife and tell us about Russia.” Lila said, handing Skye back her knife that she’d originally confiscated when Skye had started throwing it randomly at the wall in boredom then using her powers to bring it back. 

“She’s like a toddler on acid sometimes, how did you even survive Russia?” Davis commented from where his face was buried in his copy of the Great Gatsby. It had already been annotated and explained by Lila three times, he couldn’t ask again. 

“Bisexuality and sheer will.” Skye replied, spinning her knife around and around in between her fingers. The physical exams didn’t start till the end of the week and she’d already done her training for the day. Part of the agreement for her coming back to school was that she couldn’t train for hours and hours on end, unless she absolutely needed to. She could run or dance whenever she wanted but hard wearing training was a no go. 

The continued to study until midnight, by which point Skye had gotten so bored and antsy that Lila sent her off on a run just to stop her from fidgeting. They all loved her dearly, but when she was bored or her ADHD kicked into overdrive, she was a bit of a nightmare to study with. Pietro had fallen asleep on Robbie, Joey and Lincoln were practically fucking spooning ok the loveseat and everyone else was just kinda dotted randomly around. 

“Okay, for the last time before I shoot you or myself in the head. Who was president during the Depression?” Lila yawned to Davis. They’d been over this five times in the past five hours. 

“Herbert Hoover, who was succeeded by Roosevelt.” 

“Who suffered the most?” 

“15 million Americans were jobless and the stock market crashed.” 

“Who was the last Tsar of Russia?” 

“Nicholas the 2nd.” 

“Who did Russia go to war with that caused revolutions leading to the creation of the USSR?” 

“Japan.” 

“Who was the greatest spy that Peggy Carter had ever met?” 

“Dottie Underwood.” 

“Where did she come from?” 

“Russia.” 

“Okay great, I think you’ve got it now. I’m going to bed, go see if Skye had tired herself out yet. Night, sluts.” Lila called as she headed out the door. They returned in grunts and yawns, noses buried again in books. 

“Third law of thermodynamics?” Robbie asked Wanda, who’d asked him to quiz her for her physics exam. She’d elected to do physics and biochemistry at the Academy, so she could properly understand the laws of her powers, and maybe help people in future. 

“The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a system at absolute zero is a well-defined constant. This is because a system at zero temperature exists in its ground state, so that its entropy is determined only by the degeneracy of the ground state.” 

“Photographic memory?” 

“Photographic memory.” It came with her powers, she assumed at least. Once she saw something, she couldn’t really unsee it, which was very helpful for tests, not so helpful when Piper decided to forget about the chore wheel when it was their turn to clean the bathroom. That got her chased through the halls more than once. 

“We’re gonna do fine, right guys?” Trip tended to get nervous before big exams. He had a lot resting on his shoulders being a Legacy and whatever, nearly all of his family were in SHIELD at one point, he couldn’t let them down. 

“Of course, dude. We’re all gonna do amazing, pass all of the exams, get hammered on the 25th then go home for the summer and come back for second year.” Piper reassured him. They weren’t really looking forward to the going home part, but Skye had already offered the Playground for any of the Legacies with shitty home situations. Wanda and Pietro had already practically moved in there, Coulson signed on as their legal guardians so the orphanage would let them go. 

“Okay, we gotta be up in T-minus 8 hours. See yall on the flip side.” 

* * *

“How the hell we all got A’s, I will never understand.” Lincoln laughed, wrapping his arm around Joey three weeks later. 

He wasn’t lying, they’d all passed with flying colours. The highest marks in SHIELD history since Fitzsimmons in Sci-Tech, Maria in Comms and Morse and Barton in Ops. 

“Did you see Forther’s face when he saw the results? It was priceless.” Trip commented, Lila catching Skye’s tensed shoulders at the mention of his name. He’d gotten off with a strict warning and a year of detentions after his little stunt in the gym. But Skye was incredibly wary of him now and avoided him at any point she could, even training in a different gym. 

“Greetings, we come bearing alcohol.” They’d sent Piper, Davis and Pietro to go get drinks for the night. It might technically be illegal, and they were definitely abusing Pietro’s powers by having him speed grab the stronger stuff whilst they used the fake IDs Skye produced for weaker stuff. But who was really caring?

”Vodka please.” Skye called, grabbing a bottle from the bag and a cider for Lila. None of them had actually managed to catch up with Skye in drinking yet, which was just embarrassing given she was _fourteen_. Russians, honestly. 

“Well, here’s to the Little Legacies. May we forever be the best SHIELD has ever had, completely non-functional gays, and questionable methods of handling our health, amen.” Trip led the speech, ignoring Davis’s offended splutters. 

“Amen.” 

“Cheers to that.”

”Salut.” 

“Yes queen.” 

“Woohoo.” 

“Bottoms up.” 

“And a happy new year.” Lila finished, leaning her head on Skye’s shoulder as the fireworks that they set off at the end of every exam season exploded above them. “Are you sad about going home?” 

“I’m not going home, not really.” 

“You did not just quote Harry Potter at me.” 


	21. I Don’t Know What I Did Last Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was supposed to be a good summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh no. This got dark and angsty and for what reason? Who knows but I wanted to do something like this separately in another AU so if you want a brainwashed HYDRA Skye/Daisy with Skimmons then let me know 
> 
> Please let me know what yall think of this chapter because it’s kinda all over the place and we won’t find out everything that happened to Skye until later...
> 
> WARNINGS: child abuse, brainwashing, murder, implied child torture, identity crisis 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

It should have been a fun summer. They were all supposed to meet up at some point and head to Six Flags, most of them were staying at the Playground anyway. They were supposed to have sleepovers and movie nights and stupid water fights at the farm. 

It should have been a good summer. 

But it wasn’t. 

* * *

“So, why are we here Skye?” Garner asks. Skye had been his patient for almost seven years, on and off depending on how she was coping at the time. He hadn’t ever dealt with a patient like her and he wasn’t sure he ever would again. 

“Don’t call me that.” This young girl in front of him was...different. The Skye he had come to know was bubbly and vibrant and lively, this girl, was darker, more edgy. It would have been ridiculous given that she was only fifteen, but she had valid reasons in his professional opinion. 

“Would you prefer Daisy?” She hasn’t looked at him yet, playing with the fidget toys he gave her instead. Her nimble fingers twist and untwist the tangle toy over and over again, creating a pattern. Three twists left, four right, flip upside down, six left, seven right, flip again, untwist and repeat. The Skye he knew previously would use the fidget cubes. This girl hasn’t even touched them. She goes between the tangle toy and the rubber stick, flipping it around and around in her hands. 

She’s used to flipping a knife, this is the best he can do in sessions since weapons weren’t allowed. It was a rule they implemented in SHIELD after too many therapists and patients alike ended up with injuries after accidents involving traumatised agents. 

“I’m not her either.” She sighed, her legs drawn up the chest. She looks so much smaller than normal, like the fifteen year old she is rather than the indestructible powerhouse she pretends to be. Well, used to pretend to be. 

Right now, he’s not sure she knows who she wants to be. So, he asks. 

“Then who are you now?” Her eyes finally come up to his and he almost flinches. There shouldn’t be that much pain in a child’s eyes. He hasn’t even seen that much inner turmoil in soldiers he’s treated, the only one he could think to compare that too was Bucky Barnes or her adoptive mom, Natasha. 

“I don’t know.” Her eyes go back down to her hands, she twists the toy harder. 

“Who do you want to be?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Who were you when you were gone?” 

“I don’t know.” She’s lying, she knows exactly who she was. What she always supposed to be. _Quake_ , the unstoppable killing machine. 

“So what do you know?” 

“That I killed twenty people and felt nothing. That they tortured me and it hurt but I didn’t really feel it. That they used my words to bring me back in and I didn’t care. That I can’t be Skye or Daisy anymore because I don’t think they exist.” She says this without any emotion and it’s terrifying. They know this of course, SHIELD followed the people that kidnapped Skye the first month of summer and cleaned up most of the aftermath. But no one had been able to get Skye to talk about it. 

“Do you want to go back to school?” She breathes a sigh of relief and he knows that this is what she wants. As much as she loves her moms and her family and the Playground, she doesn’t really feel safe here anymore, doesn’t feel like this is her home anymore. Maybe she never will. 

“I have to. Or nothing will make sense.” 

“It will make sense there?” 

“It’s the last place I remember before...well, before.” She went missing in the first week of the summer, so the last memory she has before getting grabbed from their SUV on the way to the grocery store, was sitting with her friends at the lake, drinking shitty vodka that wasn’t strong enough and giggling with her girlfriend. 

“Do you want to hurt anyone now?” He can clearly see that she doesn’t. Her hands shake the minute she isn’t moving, like if she doesn’t do something she’ll explode or snap. She’s constantly aware of her surroundings, something she’d managed to turn off as she grew up, but now it’s back with a vengeance. The first month and a half she was back, she wouldn’t even let herself be left alone with a person, too afraid to be trusted with her own body. It’s gotten a little better now, but she’s struggling with touch. He can tell it’s affecting a lot of her relationships but he suspects they’ll all get over that. 

“I’d rather cut off my own hands.” 

“Would you actually do that?” 

“I suspect it would be counter-productive. I still like punching things.” She repeats her pattern with her tangle toy another four times before putting it down completely. “Are we done now?” 

“Yes. I’m clearing you to go back to school but we have to have weekly sessions on video call. I’m also prescribing you Prozac and we’re switching to Adderall for your ADHD. Director Hill already said they’re implementing stim toys around the halls and in classroom and labs so you can always use those. Stick to your eating schedule, I know it took a hit again.” 

“Am I still getting sleeping pills?” Her nightmares when she came back were horrific, as told to him by Wanda, who he’d also taken on. With her powers, she could accidentally tap into people’s heads when she was asleep and it happened with Skye one night. Wanda told him of the angry men who beat her, the people she’d been forced to kill, the brainwashing. It was all so much for someone so young to endure. 

“Do you still want them? We can give you emergency doses but it’s not healthy for you to rely on them at your age.” 

“It’s also not healthy to be brainwashed by HYDRA, but here we are. I’ll take the emergency dose back to school. We’re in different dorms so I don’t want to destroy the place.” She answers sarcastically, and there’s the old Skye. She might be having an identity crisis right now, but her nature truly never changes. 

“Then I’ll see you over video call next week. Good luck...” 

“We’ll stick with Skye, I’ve already changed my name once.” She replies reluctantly, taking the tangle toy with her although he already knows she’s heading straight to the gym after this. 

“And you can always change it again.” 

“That seems like a lot of effort, Dr Garner.”   
  


* * *

“How was therapy, Zee?” Lila asks her later. Before the summer, she’d easily slip into Daisy’s bed and put her arm around her, they’d be able to cuddle without Daisy freezing first. But then June happened and it all got so confusing. 

“Shitty. Apparently I’m having an identity crisis, they’re changing my ADHD meds and giving me Prozac to avoid mood swings and depression. I’m getting emergency sleeping pills for when we go back to the Academy. Weekly therapy over video call. Rubber bracelets for sleeping instead of the handcuffs or bracelets again, you know. The usual.” Skye sighs, pushing herself and ignoring the screaming warnings in her brain, and goes over to Lila’s bed. She still had her own bedroom obviously, but it didn’t feel like hers anymore. Nothing really did. 

When her friends all started staying here, they’d made one of the bigger bunks into a dorm like the ones at the Academy so they weren’t running out of bunks. Piper and Wanda slept in here and Lila had a bed here, but mostly slept in Skye’s room or Skye slept here. Sometimes they ended up on the couch in the common room. Most often, they curled up in the Nest, a disused SUV that Skye had claimed when she was eight. 

It was harder now, to accept the love and friendship that her family and friends were giving her. There were more voices in her head screaming, every moment of every waking day, that she didn’t deserve it. She deserved to rot in burning hell, surrounded by the endless screams of the people she’s hurt. But it all seemed that tiny bit quieter with Lila or Robbie or her moms. 

“But you can come back?” Lila pulled Skye close to her, noting that she didn’t flinch first. Progress. 

“Yeah, I’m good to come back.” Skye whispered, leaning into Lila. She wanted normality back, the chaos of the Academy, the stress of tests and staying at the top rather than the stress of what happened in June. 

“That’s great because I need someone to beat in Comms.” Lila teased. She’d wanted to protect Daisy from ever getting hurt again, she’d have given her life. But HYDRA had other plans and the minute Daisy was grabbed out of that SUV was the minute everything changed. 

Now, they dealt with the fallout. 

“I’m so glad I make that much of an impact on your life.” Skye began kissing across Lila’s cheeks and nose, making her way south to reach Lila’s lips but bypassing them and going for her neck instead. Lila whined when Daisy’s lips ghosted over her pulse point and she could feel Daisy smirk against her.

”I love you.” Skye whispered in Lila’s ear. 

“I love you too, Daisy.” 

“Oh for gods sake, are we gonna have another year of this? I need brain bleach.” Piper said loudly as they walked into the room. 

“Out, Persephone.” Skye flipped them the bird and Piper spluttered before leaving, their eyes squeezed shut. 

“Second year, here we come.” 


	22. The Underwood Dorm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New year, new dorm, new roommates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters! Yay! 
> 
> This is a bit long and a bit angsty and fluffy so have fun with that lmao 
> 
> WARNINGS: medications, violence, trauma, ptsd, child abuse, identity crisis
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Jesus fuck, is this a bathroom or a pharmacy?” Piper groaned when they opened the medicine cabinet in the bathroom of their new dorm only to find it heavily stocked with about fifteen different medications. 

“It’s not my fault that I’m on about five different meds. Some are Wanda’s!” Skye defended, putting a box of fidget toys on the shelf next to door. They all used them and hopefully their newest roommates wouldn’t judge too hard. 

Second years had bigger dorms with seven in a room instead of four, due to reduced class sizes. They’d all gotten to room together again in Underwood Dorm, Room 616 this time. They were getting three new girls, Bishop, Reid and Mannings. 

Skye liked the new room. It didn’t have bunk beds, instead there were single beds with storage above and below them lining the walls. She’d chosen on under the window, Lila’s was right next to her. 

“Wanda only takes anxiety meds when she needs them. There’s way more than that in here, DJ.” Skye came walking into the bathroom to inspect the medicine cabinet. To be fair, it did look like a chemistry lab or doctors office with the amount of pill bottles lined up. 

“Okay, we have Adderall, Prozac, Prazosin for nightmares, anti-nausea pills, Benzodiazepines, and these are just vitamins.” Skye rattled off, ignoring Piper’s eye roll. She really didn’t want to talk about the reasons she was on that many pills in the first bloody place, and she definitely didn’t want to talk about her slight reliance on them at times. “Benzos aren’t even mine.”

”Glad to know we’ve got our own little meth lab in case one of us takes a mental breakdown this year.” Piper said sarcastically, Skye slams the cabinet shut. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be insensitive.” 

“It’s fine. Sorry. Uh, I’m gonna...go see the boys. Text me when the new girls get here.” She said, grabbing her jacket as she left. Piper sighed and closed the door to the bathroom behind themselves. No one really knew how to act around Skye anymore, she didn’t even know how to act around herself. 

Skye blinked back tears as she left the room. She hated this, hated being so touchy about every stupid little thing. She wasn’t like this before, she had her triggers sure, loud noises and small spaces and the dark and stuff like that, but now it’s like she’s forgotten how to be a fucking human being. 

She knows why that is though. The HYDRA agents that took her, the ones that stole her back weren’t even connected to the Red Room, they just heard the rumours from the chain of command and Whitehall sent his agents after her, they didn’t treat her like a person. She was a science experiment and then she was a weapon. 

“ _Discovery requires experimentation_.” The words make her skin crawl and her scars itch. She can feel the scalpels in her skin sometimes, can still feel the broken bones and bruises as her trainers beat her again and again. The fire in her brain, the voices screaming over and over as they wiped her mind again. She never remembered the between, the mind wipes and the facilities and whatever else she did, she only remembered the murders and the torture sessions mistaken as training and the experimentation phases. 

“Hey chica.” Robbie breaks her out of her trip down fucked up memory lane. There’s concern in his eyes, she knows why. He hasn’t seen her seen July, when she first came back. And he was only there...because he brought her back. 

She doesn’t really remember it. She remembers a snap in her brain, an almost audible click as she finally fought the brainwashing and got back the control of her body, but by that point she’d already quaked down the HYDRA facility in Georgia. It’s blank after that until she remembers a black Dodge Charger rolling into the parking lot. She was sitting there, surrounded by her chaos and blood and gore. Quake, in all her glory, being saved by the Devil. 

If it wasn’t so fucked up, she’d find it hilarious. 

“Hey demon boy. Finally up with the big boys?” Old-Skye would revert to humour. Right now, she’s not too sure who she is so she’ll try to act as normal as possible. 

“Yeah, we’re in Dugan Dorm, not exactly across the hall this time but close enough. Wanna come in? Or we can go to the common room and play COD?” Robbie seems to understand her. She suspects it’s something to do with the demon in his head, but he understands when things are too much and why she can’t ever be herself again. She’s grateful for that. 

“I’m gonna cream your ass in COD.” She says eventually, rubbing her eyes to wipe away any unshed tears she refused to let fall. 

“You wish.” 

* * *

“No fucking way! Baby Widow!” One of the new girls exclaims when Skye comes back into the dorm. She whips her head and stares hard at the brunette. 

“Hawkeye?!” She says eventually, once recognition has kicked in. 

“How do they know each other?” Wanda asks quietly behind them. 

“Rule zero, she knows everyone and everyone knows her.” Lila answered, but she was wondering that herself. Hawkeye was her dad, but he had mentioned there being another one out there that he had trained for when he retired. Actually retired, that is. 

“Oh sorry, this is Kate Bishop. We met at the Triskellion when she popped in to debrief. She was injured so she stayed a while when I was staying with Auntie Maria.” Skye explained, she looked a lot more relaxed now that they’d settled back in and she’d played video games with Robbie for a while. 

“Sup.” Kate said, dumping her bag on the bed next to the door. “How’s Lucky?” 

“You dropped him off at the farm?” Lila asked. Lucky had just kind of showed up one day at their doorstep with a note saying “For Hawkeye, he misses you, love Katie-Kate.” They hadn’t questioned it and just accepted him as part of the family. 

“He was Clint’s originally.” Kate said, a smile dancing over her features when she took in the room. Amusement flickered in her eyes when she caught sight of Skye’s bed, the knives glinting in the September sunlight from their rack on the wall. “What’s with the weaponry Romanoff?” 

“Oh come on, you know I don’t sleep without a knife more than a metre from my head.” Skye laughed. “And the ceiling is pretty good for target practice.” 

“Uh hello? Are we in the right place?” A timid voice called from the door. Two girls walked in, Reid and Mannings they presumed. 

“Reid and Mannings?” Piper asked them. 

“Scarlett Reid.” The blonde answers. She’s pretty, almost doll-like features. The whole blonde hair, blue eyes shtick. She almost looks like a younger Mockingbird, but the nose is different and she’s got way more freckles. 

“Juliette Mannings.” The other girl, English with fiery red hair and warm brown eyes introduces. They walk in, taking in the room and Scarlett gulps when she sees Skye. 

“Oh! You’re Quake!” It’s the wrong thing to say. The entire room tenses and Skye looks she might combust right there and then. Scarlett realises her mistake almost instantly. “I’m sorry! It’s just my parents talked about you and what happened and-“ 

“It’s fine.” Skye stops her, fingers clenched in tight fists. “I’m Skye Morse-Romanoff. You can call me Skye or DJ or Morse and Romanoff, but please don’t ever call me Quake.” 

“Sorry.” Scarlett says again, and Skye offers a small smile. She was expecting someone to bring it up, half the fucking organisation knew who she was and what she could do, and she knew that Coulson had reached out to most of the agents when she was kidnapped in June. One of the kids would have had to bring it up, she’s just praying that Forther doesn’t. 

“And with that out of the way, I’m Lila Barton.” Lila said, wanting to hug Skye but knowing it would be appreciated right now. 

“Piper.” 

“Wanda Maximoff.” 

“Kate Bishop.” 

“Are all of you legacies?” Juliette sighed, clearly out of her depth. She’d come from the Inhuman base in England. Hydrokinesis after a mixup when her parents went though Terrigenesis. They’d been doing it illegally, in a commune in the hills of Somerset, on the Winter Solstice of 2015. She’d accidentally gone through after her mom died during the process. Her dad...she didn’t really like to think about him. 

She’d been brought to the base in London after a SHIELD team swooped into the are after a new Inhuman accidentally set a tree on fire and caused a forest fire. She’d nearly died of smoke inhalation but miraculously she survived and now she can cause tsunamis. Fucking fantastic. They said she needed to get training before getting assigned to STRIKE teams like everyone else in SHIELD. They wanted a full Inhuman team and last she’d heard by eavesdropping, they wanted Quake to lead it when she finished the Academy, but she was currently going through some shit. 

And now, Juliette was sharing a room with her. Fun. Two weapons of mass distraction with boatloads of trauma and something had went down with Skye over summer, in the same room. 

It was going to be a very interesting year. 

“Most of us. Got a group chat and everything with some of the boys. You can meet them at the dinner and join if you want?” Lila explained. 

“That’d be great.” Scarlett said thankfully, choosing the bed against the left wall whilst Juliette went with the one on the right wall, in between Skye and Wanda. 

“Hey Morse? Wanna hit the gym like old times?” Kate asked Skye and Skye jumped at the chance, kissing Lila on the forehead. They signed rapidly to each other, Skye saying she’ll be back for dinner and Lila saying she’ll save her a place on the table. Skye rolled her eyes and grabbed her training backpack before heading out with Kate. 

“You two together?” Juliette asked. 

“Yep. Yall cool with that cos most of this group swing for the other team if you know what I mean.” 

“Lila babe, most people know what that means.” Piper said exasperatedly, shoving shirts into a drawer with not real regard with how they were packed in there. 

“I was trying to be subtle, darling. Careful, or I’ll tell them your first name.” Lila warned, a grin spreading over her face. 

“You wouldn’t dare. You forget I’m second year Ops and fully capable of kicking your ass to high heaven.” 

“I go out with the daughter of the fucking Black Widow and Mockingbird, not to mention a Red Room assassin and one of the most powerful Inhumans to exist.” 

“How could we ever forget that? If she’s not joking about her traumatic childhood, then she’s beating up one of the boys. Don’t forget her day of the week fucking knife collection.” Piper said drily. 

“You’ll get used to this eventually.” Wanda said softly to Juliette and Scarlett who were watching the whole affair with about six layers of confusion and fear. “We have movie nights every Tuesday, study group on Thursday and Sunday, we eat together quite a lot and Skye goes running every morning and said anyone is welcome to join her as long as you like ten mile runs.” 

A _very_ interesting year then. 


	23. Idiots with Knives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juliette, Skye, Kate and Robbie have a training session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff (kinda) to break up all the freaking angst oml I’m sorry I do love it tho 
> 
> I’m glad this storyline with Skye has been so well received because I was scared to post it in case it was too far or whatever but people seem to like it 
> 
> Also you’re getting flashback chapters in a couple of days so we find out what happened, nearer christmas in the story 
> 
> WARNINGS: scars, sparring, weapons 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

After two weeks, Juliette thinks she’s finally settling into the Academy. She was in Ops and the Inhuman program that basically just mandated monthly power checkups and power training once a week, as well as blood tests every three months to check on how your powers were affecting you. Which Skye complained about every chance she got, but they all knew she was terrified of needles. Like, panic attack level terrified. Lila told her that Skye once disappeared for five hours because they wanted to give her vaccinations and it’s been a nightmare ever since then. 

She wasn’t too fond of them herself. She’d had to get a shit ton of vaccinations when she was first brought to the Tube base in London, named because of its entrance just off the London Underground. Growing up in a commune in the middle of Somerset with hippies as parents meant that she hadn’t been given any her entire life, and when the flu broke out in the base, she was given them all at once. 

It had not been a pleasant experience. 

“Hey Jules! You coming to training?” Kate calls from the doorway. She’s already dressed in black athletic leggings and a purple shirt, with mesh cut out on the top so Juliette could see her black sports bra straps underneath. Her hair was braided back, which could only be Skye or Lila’s handiwork considering they were the only two who could properly braid. 

“You three are going to kick my arse, Bishop.” Juliette complains but she heads to the bathroom to change anyway. She slides on some blue leggings with a yellow sports bra. She’s always liked colours, part of the hippie in her DNA she supposed. It wasn’t great for being a spy but she still had time to convert to straight black, she was only sixteen. 

“You’re gonna be fine, Mannings, chill out.” Kate laughed from outside the door. She’d grabbed a fidget cube to fiddle with while she waited, the little green toy kinda fascinated her. Most of the other kids in her dorm used them, Morse-Romanoff was the common culprit. 

“I’m training with Quake, Hawkeye and Ghost Rider. I think I’m gonna die.” Juliette opened the bathroom door with a frown. “Have you got any spare hair ties?” 

“Oh, here.” Kate hands her a black hair tie and she gathers her hair into a ponytail. She’s been thinking of cutting it recently, maybe dyeing it. 

“You’re gonna be fine. It’s against the rules to kill anyone or dangerously injure in the gym, so most you’ll get is some bruises.” 

“You’re getting me coffee after.” 

“Deal.”   
  


* * *

She should have listened to her gut. She’d trained at the Tube obviously, otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten into Ops but this is different. Very different. 

Kate walks in before she does, seemingly at ease with the fact that Robbie and Skye are using knives in their sparring match, as well as moves she’s never seen in her life. Kate just rolls her eyes as Robbie darts at Skye with a blade raised to her neck but she slips under his arm and he’s on his back in seconds. 

“You got sloppy over the summer.” Skye comments, barely even breaking a sweat. 

“Not all of us spent our whole summers training.” Robbie wheezes, tapping the mat so Skye will get off his back. She rolls to the side and tucks her blades back in her waistband. 

“Hey idiots? When Robbie’s collected himself, wanna train with us?” Kate calls. Skye looks up sharply, but Juliette thinks that’s because she hadn’t noticed they came in. She always notices. 

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Robbie says, hauling himself off the floor and offering Skye a hand. She rolls her eyes and takes his hand, pulling herself up and walking to the edge of the mat to remove her wraps. 

“What’s your speciality?” She asks Juliette whose brain backfires before she answers. 

“Uh, hand-to-hand.” Sharon Carter took over her training for a long time because she was on the STRIKE team that saved her. Sharon shared her training with Isabelle Hartley, who ended up on Coulson’s team last she heard. 

“Ever do it with blades?” Skye’s got an almost gleeful glint in her eye that feels rather worrying. Skye and Kate were really into their weapons, and had been found more than once using each other for target practice. 

“Um, no.” 

“Great, we’ll start with throwing them.” Skye says happily, grabbing her hand and dragging her over to the weaponry, where she signs out some practice blades. Kate and Robbie sigh behind them. 

“Not everyone likes knives, Baby Widow.” Kate says. 

“They’re very useful!” Skye defends. 

“You only think that because you’re Russian.” Robbie teased and Skye feigns shock and ignorance. 

“Russian?” Juliette asks. As far as she’d heard, and judging by Skye’s accent, she was an American. 

“Not biologically but I grew up there from ages two to eight and I’ve been back a couple of times with my moms. So I’m basically Russian.” Skye explains and Juliette can hear the slight Russian twist in her accent that she guessed you never really lost. 

“That’s cool. I’m not biologically English, my mum was from Sweden and my dad was American, but they moved to Somerset.” Juliette says. She gingerly takes the knife from Skye and holds it in her hand. It feels wrong, she doesn’t really like weapons. She prefers using her body, being her own weapon. It makes her feel more in control. “Yeah, I don’t like this.” 

“Stop trying to force everyone into your weird training techniques, Romanoff. Cmon, group sparring.” Kate says eventually. Skye nods apologetically to Juliette and turns back toward the targets. Her knives hit the bullseye every time even with her eyes closed. 

“Now you’re just showing off.” Robbie says exasperatedly. Skye grins. 

“Making up for lost time.” She says cryptically and not for the first time, Juliette wonders what the hell even happened over summer. The group dances around it, and Skye clearly wants to forget it ever happened but she can’t. Maybe she’ll find it out in time. 

“Okay, we’re gonna go in teams, I want Morse-Romanoff.” Kate said, but Robbie pouted. 

“No fair, I wanted her first.” 

“Shouldn’t the Inhumans tag team?” Juliette hadn’t forgotten about that Inhuman STRIKE team. 

“Glad to see I’m so popular. Tell you what, let’s do three against one. You three team up against me.” Skye says, shucking her shirt off so she’s just in her sports bra and leggings. 

And if Juliette hadn’t thought she was gay before, holy fucking shit, she was now. She thinks any girl would be if they saw Skye Morse-Romanoff. She obviously knows she’s got no chance, Lila and Skye are clearly meant to be together, but she thinks she would like to date someone like Skye. The perfect abs from years of training, the well-formed muscles sculpting her body. 

There’s also the scars. Those kinda terrify her. All down her arms there are thin white slashes that look years old. But there’s fresher ones, ones from only a few months ago. Tracking down her abdomen with precision, pale pink lines across her ribs and stomach. Is this what happened in the summer? 

“Earth to Jules?” Kate calls over her mental reverie and she nods. 

Skye drops into a fighting stance and Kate and Robbie take point whilst Juliette stands further back, ready to provide assistance when one of them went down. 

“Ready?” Robbie says, glancing a little nervously at Skye. But her face was determined, she knew what she was doing. 

“Ready.” 


	24. Double Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Lila, and Robbie and Pietro go on a double date. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have some angsty fluff.
> 
> WARNING: mentions of homophobia, anxiety, trauma, ptsd
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Remind why this was a good idea?” Skye asked her girlfriend, as they walked into the restaurant in town. Robbie and Pietro had somehow come up with the brilliant idea that they should go on a double date. In a Southern town. With other people around. 

It wasn’t even the inevitable homophobia Skye was worried about, it was the actual people. She hated crowds now more than ever and tended to avoid them as much as she could. No parties, no mixers, no Avengers holiday party that Stark was going to throw nearer Christmas. Even hanging out with this entire group made her uncomfortable, so she stuck to hanging out with them in smaller bites. Juliette had joined her main group of Lila and Robbie, as did Kate. She still saw the others at meal times obviously, she just didn’t want to lose control again. 

It terrified her. The constant buzzing under her skin. Whatever mind wipe drug they used enhanced her powers tenfold, the world hummed around her all the time, rather than the background static she had gotten used to. She learned to recognise heartbeats now, like echolocation. It was helpful for training and it would help as an agent but it was _constant_. 

She had good control but it slipped sometimes. It’s why she was given sleeping meds, she shook the base so hard one night when she had a nightmare that she could have brought the roof down. 

And now they were going to a room full of heartbeats and vibrations and noise. 

“Garner said it would be good to test your boundaries.” Lila said encouragingly into her ear, but she was worried too. Robbie and Pietro were that perfect couple, the one that you know is going to last forever. They matched each other in every way, some argued they were fucking soulmates. And her and Daisy might have been like that last year but their relationship had kind of been on the rocks since July. 

Skye hadn’t even wanted to be near her for weeks. Once Robbie brought her back and they cleaned off all the blood, she slept for two days straight. Then deprogramming for the second time in her whole fifteen years of life. Her birthday had been the day before a Robbie found her. They were supposed to go camping. 

Lila shakes her head of the memories, refusing to look back. She placed a hand on Skye’s back and ignores the girl’s minute flinch. 

“Took your time ladies.” Robbie says once they got to the booth. The restaurant is 50s-themed so it’s all vinyl and jukeboxes and shit. They’ve been here before, checking out the famous milkshakes. 

“Lila couldn’t decide what shirt to put on.” Skye teased, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. It was too loud, and it was all too much but for once she wanted to have a good fucking time that didn’t involve training or running or nights in the dark. 

“Not all of us wear strictly black, babe.” Lila returned. 

“Hey! I wear colour!” 

“SHIELD merchandise doesn’t count.”

”Fine.” 

“Okay! Before that argument goes any further, who wants what?” Robbie stopped them before that argument went any further, sliding an arm round Pietro’s waist. The blonde cuddled further into his boyfriend’s side.

”I’m not hungry.” Skye said quietly.

”Zee...” Lila started, catching Robbie’s concerned gaze. 

“There’s too many people, Lil. I can’t concentrate on eating here.” Skye whispered, her eyes begging Lila to let this go. Her eating had gotten a lot better this year, strict routines and eating times and whatever. Turns out Scarlett had issues with food too, so they visited the health supervisor together on Fridays. 

“We can leave if you want to.” Lila whispered back. 

“Twenty minute rule?” Skye said. 

“Okay.” Lila agreed. They’d established the “twenty minute rule” when Skye actually started to speak to people again. If she didn’t like a situation, or if it was too much, or anything, if it didn’t get better in twenty minutes they would leave.

”We’re gonna eat when we get back.” Lila told the boys. They looked a little disappointed but Robbie especially understood. 

“So, what’s it like with the new girls?” Pietro asked.

”They're pretty cool, I like them.” Skye replied, her hands playing idly with a tangle toy under the table. Lila put a comforting hand on her thigh. 

“Me too. Scarlett watched Criminal Minds so we all have a binge sometimes.” Lila said. The only ones who didn’t watch it was Wanda, Piper and Kate, so they projected it on the wall quite often.

“Yeah, Scarlett and Wanda seem to be good friends.” Pietro commented. 

“That would make sense, they’re both in Sci-Tech. Aren’t they lab partners?” Robbie asked and Pietro nodded. 

“So, who do you think is gonna get together next in the Legacies?” Lila asked. Ten minutes to go. 

“Trip and Scarlett seem quite close.” Robbie said, thanking the waitress when she brought over milkshakes. He passed the chocolate one to Skye, but quickly made eyes at Lila when he saw her shaking. 

“Kleurcontrole, baby?” (Colour check, baby?) Lila whispered and Skye tapped out “red” in morse-code on the table. Lila nodded, taking Skye’s hand and pulling them out of the booth. She shoots apologetic smiles at Robbie and Pietro.

”Will we ever get to the point where we have secret codes to get out of weird situations, babe?” Pietro leaned back into Robbie, practically sitting in his lap. They both liked touch, so the closeness never bothered them. 

“I hope we won’t need them, but we can make them up if you want.” Robbie answered, grabbing Skye’s forgotten chocolate shake. 

“So, if I started making out with you, you would realise I wanted to leave?” 

“I think that would be rather obvious, chico.” Robbie laughed, running his hand up Pietro's inner thigh just to feel him shiver. 

“And if I left a hickey?”

“Then I’d think we’d need a do not disturb sign on the door.” 


	25. A Date?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trip and Scarlett go on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a super short chapter today, mainly because the next couple are going to be long as fuck so uh yeah get ready I guess 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Dude, will you just go ask her out? You’re making _me_ nervous.” Davis said to Trip who looked like he wanted to throw up. 

“What if she says no?” Trip asked nervously. Scarlett could say no, the flirting could just be a natural thing, like Kate or Lila. 

“She’s into you. Go ask her out. Davis, we’re sparring.” Skye interrupted. She didn’t look great in Trip’s opinion. He knew her and Lila were having issues, given that he’d found Lila crying in their dorm with Robbie at least twice and Skye was in the gym hammering a punching bag at all hours of the night. Hopefully they worked it out soon. 

“Well, I have a date with a Russian assassin, go get a date with Scarlett.” Davis said as he stood up. Trip gulped nervously, but still didn’t move so Davis rolled his eyes and kicked him in the shin. “No time like the present.” 

* * *

“What if we run out of things to talk about?” Scarlett rattled on to Wanda. The Sokovian sighed and put down her textbook. Clearly she wasn’t going to get any studying done whilst her best friend was having a crisis. 

“Then ask him a question.” 

“What if I can’t think of a question?” 

“Ask him for a childhood story, he’s full of those.” Wanda pointed at the blue shirt that Scarlett held up. “Blue over the black. All we wear is black.” 

“We are spies.” Scarlett said sarcastically but she laid the blue shirt on the bed, putting the black one neatly in the drawer. 

“Great, then ask him about Ops. Or he’ll ask you about Sci-Tech. Scarlett, there’s no way you’ll have a bad date.” Wanda told her, smiling when Scarlett looked at her. 

“What would I do without you?” Scarlett sighed. 

“Probably ask Jules.” 

“Oh please, she’s still having a gay crisis over DJ’s fucking abs. She’d be no help.” Scarlett laughed, barely dodging the water that sprayed from the tap in the bathroom in her direction as Juliette opened the bathroom door. 

“I’m not that bad!” 

“She came back from her run yesterday morning and you were practically drooling!” Scarlett shot back. 

“She’s taken.” Juliette sighed. 

“Piper’s single. So is Kate.” Wanda piped up helpfully, not as successful at dodging Juliette’s water blast. “No fair!” 

“Kate would kill me if I even attempted to ask her out. And Piper is into someone else. Some girl called Cassie.” Juliette knocked the pillow that was levitated at her face by Wanda’s powers. 

“Guys! Careful, I just curled my hair!” Scarlett cried when they began fighting playfully with their powers. 

“And you’re going to be late if you don’t leave now, babe.” Wanda said, from under the bed where she’d taken refuge to avoid Juliette’s waves.   
  


* * *

Trip and Scarlett walked along the pier at the harbour. There was an festival that had been set up for god knows what holiday they were celebrating. 

“I didn’t realise that they went so hard on National Fast Food Day here.” Scarlett commented, as they walked past a booth selling Japanese McDonald’s. 

“Me either. Kinda cool though.” Trip chanced taking Scarlett’s hand, breathing a sigh of relief when she turned to him and smiled, linking their hands together. 

They wandered the festival and talked for hours. Scarlett learned about his childhood and family, the crazy missions and adventures that his uncles and aunts got up to in SHIELD and the CIA. Trip learned about Scarlett’s childhood in Alaska, her parents being relocated in decades long undercover to watch some massive mob that was masquerading as a power plant. 

“And the mob never realised that the owners of the restaurant they did all their planning at was SHIELD?” Trip asked incredulously. 

“They weren’t the smartest mob bosses in the world, they were just happy to have a home base that served them good meatballs.” Scarlett laughed. Trip was entranced by the sound. 

Yeah, he had it bad. 

“Uh, Scarlett?” He asked. 

“Yeah?” She turned to look at him and in the soft glow of the fairy lights lining the stalls around him, her eyes were a bright cerulean blue. An ethereal glow he was falling deeper and deeper into. 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“I thought you’d never ask.” 


	26. Don’t Wanna Hurt You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four scariest words in any language are “we need to talk”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writes. Drops. Runs. 
> 
> Uh I’m sorry I guess. But! As Lila says, it’s not an ending, but a pause. 
> 
> Enjoy? -bex xx

There are a lot of terrifying words. But Lila speaks ten languages and she’s yet to find ones that scare her as much as Daisy’s text do. 

>>lovergirl: we need to talk 

It sets Lila’s nerves alight. She knew it was coming, Daisy had been drifting for weeks. Lila tried not to take it personally but when your girlfriend can’t be touched without flinching and hugs feel like suffocation to her, you start to think you might be the problem. 

“What’s this about, Zee?” Skye’s been quiet since they met at the lake. The air is too quiet, too still. It’s not helping the anxiety. 

“I can’t...I can’t be the person you want me to be.” Daisy said eventually, watching her thrown pebble ripple the water before disappearing into the abyss.   


“I don’t want you to be anyone but yourself.” Lila says. Skye gives her a sad smile that breaks her heart. 

“You do. You don’t realise it, but you want me to be the Skye that didn’t flinch every time you touched me, that could go to a restaurant and not have a panic attack, that didn’t shut you out. I can’t tell you what happened in June, mostly because I don’t know the whole thing, but also because I didn’t want you to look at me like you do.”   


“How do I look at you?” Tears start to run down Lila’s face before she can stop them. This is it. This is the moment her world falls apart. Her and Daisy have always been together, even when they weren’t dating. Her best friend, her soulmate. It was all disappearing, just like the pebbles thrown into the lake.   


“Like you want the old me. I get it, Lila, I really do. I want her back too, god, I’d kill to be that person again. But I can’t, Lila. I don’t know how.” Skye’s voice was coloured with self-loathing and Lila just wanted to wrap her up in her arms and hold her until this mess was sorted. But she couldn’t. And it made her angry.   


“Don’t I get a say in this too? I love you Skye! I love you no matter who you are!” Lila said, her voice rising. She didn’t care who heard, she was losing practically her whole world.   


“And I love you, but I can’t do this right now. I can’t work out what the fuck is wrong with me whilst trying to be the person you want. It’s not your fault, Lila. Please don’t blame yourself.” Skye looked at her with tears shining in her eyes and fuck, Lila still thinks she’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. Her tears going in the moonlight from the dark November night, but Lila can’t kiss away her tears.   


“How can I not blame myself for this? You’re breaking up with me because apparently I can’t see that you’re dealing with shit!” Lila was near sobbing. She wanted this to just be a bad dream, that she’d wake up and Daisy would be in the bed next to hers, hair in messy braids that Lila put in the night before and her left arm above her head but not locked down. 

“I know you know I’m dealing with shit, you are too. But maybe we need to work on ourselves before we work on our relationship.” Because of course she would rationalise it. Lila can see the pain behind her eyes, she knows this is tearing Daisy up inside. It’s what makes her breathe out and take a minute.   


No matter how much it hurt, what Daisy was saying made sense. They were still young, only sixteen and fifteen. They still needed to find out who they were without the other, without building their whole worlds around each other. Not counting their traumas, they’d been each other’s everything’s for so long that maybe they did need time to work themselves out.   


But no matter how much she understands and knows that Daisy is right, she still pleads. 

“Please, don’t do this Skye. What if this just hurts us in the long run? _Please, Daisy.”  
_

“You’re still my best friend Lila, nothing will ever change that. We share a room for gods sake. I just I can’t do this right now, not while everything’s such a mess in my head.” Skye cups Lila’s cheek and Lila leans into the last touch she might ever get like this. One charged with electricity and that ripples the water like a tsunami. 

“Can’t we work it out together?” Lila whispers. Skye shakes her head and wipes Lila’s tears with her thumbs. 

“I don’t think we can. I need to...I need to do it on my own. And I don’t want you to get hurt by the fallout.”   


“And you thought that breaking up with me wouldn’t hurt me? I thought you were the smart one.” The joke falls flat in the quiet of night.   


“I know it will and I’m really sorry, but it’s better than accidentally hurting you when I suddenly remember what the fuck happened in June. Lila...I...I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you physically like that. I’m fucked up Lila, I’m tired of hurting you.” They’re both still crying but Lila finally understands. This is how Daisy protects. She distances herself so no one drowns in her wake and it hurts like fucking hell but, it’s understandable.   


“Okay.” She whispers, chancing lacing their fingers together. Skye hangs on a little tighter, trying to force everything she can’t say into that one hand squeeze before she lets go.   


“Okay?”   


“I get it, Daisy. I get it now. It doesn’t make it hurt any less, I still love you and I probably always will. You’re my person, no matter who or what you are. Even if we can only ever be friends. If you need me, I’ll be there.”   


“Same to you, Lila. You were the first person I ever fully trusted, other than my moms. The first person I could be myself around, the only person I let call me “Daisy”. You mean everything to me Lila Barton. Never forget that.” Daisy tells her and Lila cries a little harder. This is not an ending, it’s a pause.   


“You were the first ever friend I had. I’m not giving up on you Zee, when we’re ready, maybe we’ll come back to each other.” That was the saying wasn’t it? If you love something, you let it go and hope it’ll come back to you.   


“Our someday is still out there. Running missions together, taking over SHIELD, retiring to France with our dog, Lolita and our cat, Felipe.” Daisy says, and Lila believes her. It’s like a mantra in her head now. Not an ending, a pause. A break in the great story that was their lives. Maybe in a few months, or ten years, or twenty, they’d come back together.   


“Beloofd?” (Promise?) Lila asks.   


“Promise.” 


	27. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a safe house in Germany, we find out what happened in June.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooft this is long and angsty 
> 
> But you finally find out what happened! I hope it lived up to y’all’s expectation but feel free to shout at me in the comments if you hate it, love it, whatever lol 
> 
> WARNINGS: brainwashing, child abuse, brief mentions of torture, breakdowns, child soldiers, murder, self loathing 
> 
> Also! Add me on Twitter if that’s your thing I don’t post a lot on there but you know it’s vibey  
> @bxdaisymorse 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

It’s dark in the safe house, the entire town of Düsseldorf, Germany is asleep. The snow drifts in the pale moonlight and Natasha would think it was beautiful but something is wrong. 

She’d heard a creak of floorboards, normally blamed on the old infrastructure of the house but she knew it wasn’t that. The alarms hadn’t gone off, the bells on all of the windows and doors hadn’t rung and no one was attempting to kill them and Bobbi was still in bed next to her, so she figured it was Skye. 

She’s been far too quiet on this trip. Last time they went away for Christmas was two years ago, when they spent it in Scotland because the snow was so bad when they were dropping the Fitzsimmons off that they’d been grounded. Skye had been ecstatic at the new country and even spoke with some locals in Gaelic when they drove up to the Isle of Skye. God knows when she learned that language but they’d gotten a free lunch out of it and a brand new safe house with a lovely old woman called Maureen, should they ever need one. 

But that wasn’t happening on this trip. Skye spoke with the locals in German like normal, but she didn’t actively seek them out. They didn’t have her usual chatter and banter about the Academy and her friends and the game of Capture the Flag they won for the second year running. Something was going on with her and Natasha was determined to get to the bottom of it.

She keeps her hand on her gun as she walks through the house. Just in case their daughter is safely tucked up in bed and there is actually an intruder. But there’s no sign of forced entry or shadows moving to suggest attack. As she travels through the small house, the sound of flesh against hard leather fills the air, because of course the safe house had a training room. 

When Skye was angry or distressed or sad, any emotion she couldn’t fully process on her own, she took it out on a punching bag. Garner had given her options but it seemed to work best for Skye to punch it out. They were similar like that. 

Skye doesn’t even realise she walks in which is worrying. Skye always noticed, especially after they enhanced her powers. Her daughters attention is fully on the task at hand, her fists flying as she hit the bag again and again. She’s been at this for a while, given the sweat dripping from her forehead and her knuckles.   


No wraps. Blood trickled from her fists down the brown leather of the bag like veins. Only when it was really bad did Skye forget her wraps.   


“Skye?” No answer. Skye doesn’t even acknowledge her presence, maintaining her harsh rhythm on the bag.   


“Skye!” She tries again, a little louder. She’ll wake Bobbi up but this is more important. Bobbi would probably be more angry if she _didn’t_ wake her for this. 

“Daisy!” Sometimes her old name will get her attention, even if they never use it nowadays. 

She tries again and again for about five minutes until eventually she snaps. 

“довольно!” (Enough!) She shouted eventually, cringing at the harshness of her voice. She knows exactly who she sounds like and she praying that Skye doesn’t confuse the two. Madame haunts her nights too. Skye’s head jerks towards her and she looks at Natasha with unkempt fear in her eyes. 

“мама?” (Mama?) She whispered, tears slipping down her face. Natasha crosses to her in seconds, gathering her child into her arms whilst Skye clutches her like a lifeline. Skye doesn’t often regress to strictly Russian, but it’s been known to happen when she was overly stressed. It was technically her first language. 

“что случилось, паук?” (What’s wrong, spider?) Natasha whispers to her. Skye holds on a little tighter and Natasha lets them sink to the floor as Skye shakes in her arms. 

“я помню. я помню. я помню!” (I remember. I remember. I remember!) Skye shouts at the end, and Natasha is amazed that the floor isn’t shaking.   


She knew it had to happen eventually, the repression of Skye’s memories wouldn’t last as long as the one her brain had created for her childhood. She was older now, and it was a completely different experience. She had just prayed it would have happened later. So Skye had time to heal from the trauma, but unfortunately, God is a cruel bastard who never really seemed to be listening.   


“Тебе не нужно говорить мне об этом прямо сейчас, детка, но это может помочь.” (You don’t need to tell me right now, baby, but it might help.) Natasha whispered, rubbing Skye’s back in slow circles so the girl can relax her breathing a little.   


“Сначала я хочу маму. Вы оба. Мне нужны обе.” (I want Mom first. Both of you. I need both.) Skye said shakily, looking Natasha dead in the eyes. It was like looking into a time vortex, seeing eight year old’s Daisy’s eyes as she screamed in the deprogramming chair. How many more times was her child going to go through this? The second deprogramming hadn’t gone much better than the first, she told them the basic information and then gone catatonic, they couldn’t get anything out of her for hours. She spoke Russian for two weeks straight until she screamed at Hunter in English when he approached without thinking. It kept on happening, Skye would get to a good place, then something would happen and it would all go backwards.   


How many more times would Skye be a target?   


* * *

“Talk to us, malyshka, it’s the only way we can help.” Natasha prompted when Skye had gone silent. They’d ended up back in Natasha and Bobbi’s bed, with Skye sat against the headboard staring at her knees. 

“It was Germans. That’s why I’m remembering now, they have the same accents and voices. German HYDRA agents, they knocked me out once they lifted me from the SUV.” Skye said quietly, and Bobbi exchanged a look with Natasha. It had to be the same group she was undercover with in March and April. 

“Did they bring you back to Germany?” Natasha asked when Skye had gone silent again. Bobbi placed a hand on Skye’s knee, offering comfort if she needed it. For the first time in months, Skye didn’t flinch away. 

“No. There was some underground facility in the mountains, I think we were in Idaho? I woke up in a cell, like the isolation box but slightly bigger. Enough to make me claustrophobic. I tried to quake my way out but they had some shock collar on me that inhibited my powers. I hated that thing, it was barely ever taken off. Then I tried to fight my way out but then pumped in some gas that made me pass out before I took out the final guard. I was so close to getting out...” 

“It is not your fault so don’t even start that road.” Bobbi said firmly. Skye nodded and continued. 

“I woke up on a table. Like the ones they use in morgues or labs. I was restrained and the stupid collar was still on or I would have quaked the bastard. I was kind of in and out a lot, but I can vaguely remember them cutting into me to see how powers worked, how they could implant a chip to control me at all times, a kill switch. They never actually got round to that kill switch but I think they put the chip in...no. They did. I quaked it to pieces when Robbie picked me up. Got blood all over his car when I cut it out.” 

“You don’t need to tell us all this tonight if it’s too much, звезда, you can take your time.” Bobbi said gently, when Skye started shaking again at the mention of the medical procedures. Natasha was ready to snap someone’s neck, but she was keeping that under wraps. 

“I need to get this out. I can call Garner if it’s too much for you...” 

“Skye, baby, we love you. If you want or need to tell us, then we need to hear it.” Natasha told her. She’d been in Skye’s place, not long after getting with Bobbi. Experimental drugs on a mission gone wrong that had her tumbling through nightmares for nearly a week. She’d broken down on the Saturday and told Bobbi about life after the Red Room and the KGB and her parents. Bobbi was amazing all the way through, she just held her as Natasha vomited into the toilet every few hours and just let her know she was there. Bobbi was solid, strong-willed and beautiful, Natasha found herself more in love with her now, even after all these years. 

“It’s not a pretty story.” Skye warned and Bobbi bit back a harsh laugh.

“You were kidnapped by fucking HYDRA, honey, I’d be concerned if it was sunshine and rainbows.” 

“Okay. They experimented for about a week, I think that’s when they enhanced me as well. I remember they took a shit ton of blood one time, I thought I was dying. But the next day they started giving me transfusions and injections and next thing I knew, I could sense people’s motions practically before they came and feel heartbeats and all that shit that ruins my social life. They started training that day as well.”

”Training?” Natasha asks curiously, tucking the blanket further around Skye’s shoulder and handing her a tangle toy they had lying around so she had something to do with her hands. Natasha could see the fidgeting and skin picking almost immediately, Skye was terrified. Skye looked at her gratefully, before returning her eyes to the purple tangle toy in her hands, twisting it roughly till it formed an impossible shape before beginning to untangle it knot by knot. It seemed to soothe the anxiousness a little. 

“Yeah, they used the same kind of training the Red Room used. My trainer was called The Superior, but I think he was Russian. He always stunk of vodka and sweat and onion, weirdly. He was a sadistic asshole, used to keep me training through the night and all day. I don’t think I slept for about three days. Said it was resilience training. They used to use cattle prods if I didn’t move fast enough, they chained me to the bed again. The normal torture sessions. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the mind wipes.” Natasha’s only just realised that Skye’s fidgeting with the tangle toy with one hand, the other’s fore finger is tapping that old Russian song that Skye used to tap all the time. Баюшки-баю. It’s been a long time since she’s heard it tapped against soft sheets like this. 

Maybe they were right when they said that Daisy wasn’t gone forever. 

“Mind wipes?” It’s pretty obvious what those were, Natasha did work with Bucky Barnes. 

“They’d strap me into a metal chair, like the one that doctor used when Ward took us. The shock collar was always ramped up to the highest it could go without killing me. Then there was the needles. I still don’t know what they put in me, but it was constant. They’d inject me, then make me watch some endless video. Basic mind control. I’d be in that chair for ages as the scientists told me my word over and over and over again. “Red. Left. Swan. Whisky. Serpent. Cross. Earth. Fire. Gone.” Over and over, I heard it constantly when they wiped me.” Tears flow down Skye’s cheeks again as she tells them. Natasha can tell that they both just want to hug her and possibly never let go but they can’t right now. She’s been storing this up for nearly six months, she need to let go so she can heal properly. 

“How often were you wiped?” 

“Once a week, I think. I started forgetting who I was here, after the Red Room. It was the only thing they let me remember. They never called me a name like they did in the Red Room, I was just Quake or Asset 7. The first time they sent me out on a mission I went with The Superior. Simple in and out job, just steal some data from some firm they wanted to corrupt. But something went wrong and they made me- I had to-“ She stutters over the words, her fist clenching the wires in her hand. Her tapping finger picks up the pace as her anxiety reaches a high, causing her to release shaky breaths. 

“Hey, you’re okay malyshka. It wasn’t you.” Natasha whispers into her ear, moving to sit next to her. Skye allows the contact, cuddling into Natasha's side.

”I killed five that day. Innocents. And I didn’t even blink. I remember crying when they took me back to base, but then they wiped me again and I forgot. Not the murders or training, but I forgot how to feel. I think they reprogrammed my entire brain, I speak more languages now and I definitely don’t remember learning martial arts. It went on like that. Training, mission, murder, mind wipe. And then one day...it just snapped. Something switched in my brain and I could feel again. I don’t know if I withstood the wipe or something, but everything came rushing back. I destroyed the facility. Think I killed another ten people. I know the base was destroyed. But they’re not gone, they’re never gone.” 

“I’m so sorry, baby, that’s...” Bobbi started. 

“Fucked up?” Skye suggested, burrowing closer to Natasha. 

“That’s one way to put it.” Bobbi said. God, she wanted to punch something right now. 

“But you know it’s not your fault right? You were literally brainwashed.” Natasha reminded her, and true to her self-blaming nature, Skye shakes her head. 

“I could have fought harder, could have broken the mind wipes earlier. People are dead, and I killed them.” 

“Would you say that about Bucky? Would you say that he should have fought harder, that his murders were his fault?” Skye looked at her in horror. 

“No, of course not.” 

“Then why do you think that about yourself?” Skye had no answer, just looked away guiltily. Natasha lifted her eyes by placing her finger under her chin and turning Skye’s head up to look at her. “You haven’t had an easy life, Skye, not the kind you deserved. The fact that you turned out at all mentally stable is a miracle, but the fact that you still have so much compassion and love for people even after you’ve been hurt by the world, astounds me. You’re so good, baby girl, and I’m sorry that people keep trying to take that away. I promise you that we will try to keep you safe from that from now on, I’m sorry that we failed in the past. You’re our daughter, Skye, we will love you no matter what you do or who you are.” 

“I second that.” Bobbi added and Skye giggled through her tears and she launched herself into Natasha’s arms. Natasha tightened her grip on the girl, the way she should have done all those months ago, but you can’t change the past. Only the future. And she was damn sure that Skye was going to know how to protect herself, even more than she did now. 

“Я люблю тебя.” (I love you.) A few tears escape Natasha’s eyes when Skye says it, because she hadn’t in so long. She’d been afraid and now it made sense. Too afraid that her emotions were no longer her own, that HYDRA messed with her head too much that she couldn’t allow herself to feel it. 

“And we love you. Do you wanna sleep in here?” Bobbi had joined their hug from the back of Skye, enveloping them both. Skye nodded against Natasha’s chest. 

“Would you...can I...can I use the name “Daisy” again?” She asked tentatively. 

“Of course. Why now?” They’d been expecting she’d go back to it eventually. That the name change was a crutch whilst she adapted to the new world she was in, distance herself from the Red Room and Russia. But now she’d been put back into that kind of lifestyle, she’d probably been able to come to terms with what happened. 

“I stopped using Daisy because I didn’t like who that was when I was younger. She was violent and angry and scared. Skye didn’t have to be those, she was safe and protected and moving forward. But then June happened, and Skye kind of disappeared. I can’t be here because she doesn’t exist anymore, she died when HYDRA wiped me. I know that makes no sense, but I think I’m ready to be Daisy now.” And to any other civilian, it wouldn’t have made sense. Daisy was talking about herself as two different people, but when you’ve worked with brainwashed assassins from the 40s and Iron Man, or you’ve experience it yourself like Natasha, it didn’t seem so crazy. 

“Of course you can be Daisy again. I’ll get Maria to change your name in the records.” Natasha said and Daisy smiled appreciatively. 

“Uh, thanks for this. Listening I mean, it can’t have been easy.” 

“We’re not the ones who went through it. We’re your moms Daisy, we’re always gonna try to help you with the aftermath. Even if it’s just a breakup or a panic attack or something massive like a divorce or a mission gone wrong. You’re our kid, we’re gonna listen.” Bobbi told her, bringing the comforter over the small family. 

They were all damaged. No ifs or buts about it, you didn’t get as far as they had without traumas and issues and nightmares, but this made it worth it. To be able to curl up with her fiancé and daughter, the two most important people in her life, made all the wars and fights and bullets and fears worth it. 

Sometimes Natasha liked to think that Natalia was happy. The broken girl from the Red Room that killed without feeling and handcuffed herself to the bed every night to feel safe, she wasn’t gone. Just tucked away in a small corner of Natasha’s mind to be revisited when she needed to. She hoped that Natalia knew she had a family now, happiness. She hoped Daisy knew that too. 

They all slept soundly that night. The snow drifted over on the German breeze and if Natasha lost the snowball fight in the garden the next day because Bobbi and Daisy tag-teamed, then that was between them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah lol, I’m changing back to Daisy as much as I love Skye with my whole heart, I prefer using Daisy and I hope it makes sense why I switched it back


	28. The Whispers of the Ghost Rider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback chapter to June and how Robbie found Daisy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, she’s still Skye here lmao 
> 
> This is angsty and fluffy? I love writing Quakerider tbh like they’re one of my fave duos 
> 
> WARNINGS: medical procedures, child abuse, brainwashing, murder, HYDRA, torture, injury 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

He’d been hearing the whispers the entire month of June. The Rider knew something was up, it was getting agitated. He’d promised Gabe that he’d hang around this summer though so he mostly tried to ignore it. For an entire week he fought off the Rider’s dangerous whispers in his mind, only ever letting himself catch certain words. 

Torture. HYDRA. Sky. Quake. Mind wipe. Deaths. 

He had no idea what any of it meant and he had no real intention of finding out. Part of his deal with SHIELD was that he had to tell someone else if the Rider told him about a crime or if he had to jump dimensions again, so an actual agent could help deal with it. 

(Of course SHIELD didn’t know about his little adventure with Skye and Lila at Christmas when the Rider told him about a pedophile in the area. Nor did SHIELD know it was them that took down the resulting ring of pedophiles they found. But what they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.) 

It all changes when Pietro calls. And he finally starts listening to the Rider because Skye is missing. Kidnapped by HYDRA.  Again.

It’s who the Rider was telling him about, _Skye_ not the literal _sky_ , as he had thought. 

But the Rider couldn’t get a location. They kept moving, or whatever voodoo hell magic the Rider used to track people was malfunctioning because he couldn’t find them for three weeks. Nobody could. 

But then, on the third day of July, the Rider finally got a location that stuck. The Charger was raring to life before Robbie even turned the ignition. He drove through the night, probably breaking the speed limits but who was really giving a fuck because this was Skye, this was his best friend. He was going to find her. 

And then he did. 

And he almost wished it wasn’t him.

The place is destroyed, a bomb site somewhere in Idaho. Bodies are strewn everywhere and Skye...

If he had to liken it to anything he’d seen, it’d be Carrie on prom night. 

Her head turns when the Charger pulls in, but he’s not entirely sure she’s seeing him. She’s in a shirt that might have been white before, but was now blood red and underwear. She’s shivering even though it’s July and it’s Idaho, so it’s hot as fuck. Her hands shake and he can practically feel the vibrating air around her as she panics. 

“DJ?” He calls out to her. She doesn’t respond, just looks at him like she’s trying to put a name to his face. He then remembers the Rider whispering about mind wipes. Did she remember anything? 

“Rob...Robbie?” Her voice is hoarse and pained, like she’s been screaming. Her arms are a nasty shade of purple, she’s either been overusing her powers or inverting them inwards. 

“Yeah...what happened?” 

“I- I don’t know.” She chokes out and then she starts sobbing. Great heaving cries that have him leaving the side of his car and running over to her. This is his sister in everything but blood, and he has no idea what happened but the Rider is thrashing in his cage and he knows it’s bad. 

“Shh, mija, you’re okay.” He hushes, rocking her slightly as she cries into his shoulder. His heart breaks as her cries become low and guttural, pure pain and anger and guilt mixed in a lethal combination. 

“It’s- not- they- don’t- remember-“ It’s all garbled and messed up, and she’s struggling to breathe through the tears. The ground beneath begins to shake and she looks at him with fear in her eyes. 

“Hey, hey. No. You’re okay, just breathe okay? Count to seven with me.” He vaguely recalls Lila doing this with her after the “closet incident”. He starts counting in Spanish, remembering that she finds it easier to count in other languages first. 

They count in Spanish, Catalan, French, German and Mandarin and then Robbie’s out of languages he knows off the top of his head. But he encourages Skye, who continues counting until they’ve got through all twenty five of her languages. When did she learn Urdu? But eventually, she breathing normally again and she looks around at the chaos around her. 

“Did I do this?” 

“I have no idea, chica.” 

“Can’t you ask the demon in your head?” At least she’s trying to tease him, not all hope is lost. 

“Doesn’t quite work like that, Romanoff. You wanna go home?” She freezes. 

“How long have I been gone?” 

“A month.” She nods, accepting this with sadness. There’s a quiet guilt in her eyes, but he’s not going to press. 

“Did you drive all the way here?” 

“Of course. You were in trouble.” He picks himself off the ground and holds out a hand to her. She pulls herself up of shaky legs. She’s thinner, her hair is wet with what he thinks is blood but could honestly be anything. He sees more cuts that have been sewn closed, ones left open, bruises and contusions that looks incredibly painful. A ring of red around her neck matching the one on her left wrist. He didn’t even want to know what had happened there. 

“Thanks.” She said quietly. He puts an arm around her shoulder and doesn’t miss her flinch or that she holds her muscles taught against his touch, but he holds firm. He guides her to the car and settles her in the passenger seat, draping the blanket from the back over her. 

“Any chance you could burn that place.” She says as they drive off. She’s brought her legs up to her chest, resting her head on her knees. She looks impossibly young. Only fifteen, yet she’d been through so much. He was beginning to wonder just how much she could take without snapping. 

“That might get me in trouble.” 

“Shame.” 

“Any chance you’re gonna tell me what happened or do you want me to put Taylor Swift on?” 

“I can’t tell you.” She whispers, her eyes glancing at his, begging for this one mercy. He won’t push. 

“Okay. What album then?” 

“Did I miss any when I was in HYDRA?” He sucks in a sharp breath. It’s the first time she’s said anything about where she was. The Rider had said about it obviously, but the hate that colours her voice makes him double take. 

“Yeah. She released a new album, folklore. I like it, it’s a lot softer than normal.” He tells her, already loading up the playlist she made for herself on his Spotify. He already added folklore and some other songs he thought she would appreciate. 

They’re quiet for a lot of the drive, letting Taylor Swift lull them into a comfortable silence. She strips off the blanket at one point, their combined body heat making the car warm. Her fingers trace the new scars on her legs, thick and twisted lines of pink that will one day turn white. There’s a black tattoo at the top of her right thigh. 

“What’s that?” He asks eventually, after watching her stare at it for nearly an hour. 

“Number 7. I was Asset 7. There’s a control chip under here. Do you have a knife?” The way she says makes him want to laugh, she’s so casual about it. If it wasn’t for the dark shadows under her eyes and the way she looks at the number with disgust, he probably would. Instead he gives her the small knife he keeps in the glove compartment. 

“Are you really going to play Operation in my car?” 

“Are you squeamish?” She counters. The blade glints in the street lamps. They’re in some town in Montana, getting nearer to the Canada border where the Playground is. 

“No. I just don’t want blood in my car. This is my baby.” 

“I thought that was Pietro.” 

“He’s second to the car.” 

“I’ll tell him that.” 

“He already knows.” And Skye laughed, the first actual laugh he’s heard from her in four hours. But it doesn’t last long because then she’s slicing into her tattooed number and digging in with her fingers. “Okay, that’s disgusting.” 

“Thought you wanted to be a field agent?” She doesn’t even wince as she twists her fingers to find the chip. 

“Didn’t realise I’d have to remove shit from my body.” 

“This isn’t even bad. My mom said she had to remove a spider egg one time in the Amazon.” Skye told him, finally getting hold of a rather large chip in her thigh. It sparks as it’s removed and she quakes it to dust once it’s fully removed. 

“Uh, first aid kit?” He asks. 

“That would be great.” She looks like she’s going to collapse any second and he can’t work out if it’s from blood loss or general exhaustion. 

“Do you need me to stitch you up?” 

“I can probably manage. Just keep me awake, Robbie.” 

“I can do that. Hey, did I ever tell you about me and Pietro’s third date? I took him rock climbing, forgot about the super speed...” 

He pulls into the Playground eight hours later. They stopped for food and gas and then she passed out somewhere in North Dakota. He’d left the music playing, trying to calm the Rider in his mind as he looked at the beaten and bruised girl in his passenger seat. Somewhere around the interstate and Post Malone, she woke up screaming. He managed to get her to calm down, mainly because she was shaking the car, and then they drove talking about nothing and anything but the past month. 

“Thanks for coming.” She whispers as they park. He nods his head and gives her an easy smile. 

“I’ll always come, mija. I know you’d do the same.” 

“This is gonna be hard isn’t it?” 

“If anyone can get through it, it’s you.” 

“You believe that?” 

“Cross my heart.” 


	29. Superpowers Are Overrated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate, Daisy and Juliette have a training session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little mix of angst and fluff. 
> 
> WARNINGS: past child abuse, casual mentions of HYDRA
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Okay, that’s totally cheating.” Kate complained when Daisy flattened her to the May. Daisy grinned evilly and pressed an elbow into Kate’s back. 

“And you’re dead.” 

“I thought we agreed no powers?” Kate whined, squirming under Daisy’s sharp elbow. God knows what happened over Christmas but Daisy came back with a new/old name and new fighting techniques. 

“I didn’t even use my powers.” Daisy smirked at Kate’s annoyed eye roll. Kate was second on the Ops leaderboard now, much to Forther’s disappointment. Daisy was still leaps and bounds ahead of them all and none of them had any hope of catching up. 

“What did you even do over Christmas? Boot camp?” 

“Nah, that was in June.” She could joke about it now. It wasn’t funny in the slightest and they all knew she was waking up from nightmares most night and her morning runs were starting to take place at 3am rather than 5. 

“HYDRA doesn’t count as boot camp.” Kate said, tapping the mat so Daisy would get off her back. She rolled to sit crisscross, facing Daisy who mirrored her position. “For real, how are you holding up?” 

“Depends on the day. Sometimes I’m completely fine, I can eat and joke with the group like nothing even happened. Other days I can’t even look at myself in the mirror without wanting to smash it.” 

“I think that’s to be expected DJ.” Juliette’s announced her presence by joining them on the mats. 

“Yeah. Anyway, what about you Jules?” Daisy rapidly changes the subject. She remembers what happened, but she’s not entirely ready to openly talk about it unless she’s joking about it, or it’s with Robbie and Lila and maybe Jules. 

“What about me?” 

“Got a tragic backstory? Other than the whole “Somerset Incident”?” Kate asked and Juliette flushed. 

“Not really. Before that it was kinda normal. I mean, they were hippies living in the mountains so that was fun. We lived in teepees in the summer and caravans in the winter months. My mum was the communes healer, I swear she could do anything with a couple of herbs. My dad-“ She cuts herself off. She doesn’t talk about him. She can’t talk about him. 

It wasn’t that he was a bad person. He just wants a good person either. He was in charge of the hippies, he ruled with an iron fist. Juliette remembers accidentally spilling his moonshine beer when she was eight. The fear that laced her stomach as she stood before him on shaky legs, him staring at her with a cold fury she’d only ever seen when people left the commune. He’d slapped her, his massive hand cracking her face like a whip and she cried. 

The next day he was back to her normal, smiling dad who carried her on his shoulders and smelled like woodsmoke and grass. But from that night on, she saw what he was really like. He was angrier, there were more conflicts in the commune. When they finally got a hold of the illegal Terrigen crystals, she’d seen an awful maniacal glint in his eye and had the overwhelming feeling that this could only end in tragedy.

And it did.

“Hey, you okay?” Daisy cuts through her trip down memory lane and she shakes her head of the memories. 

“Yeah, just thinking. Uh, do you wanna spar?” 

“Obviously. Powers or no powers?” Daisy asks excitedly, noting the sudden subject change and filing it away for later. 

“If you’re doing powers then I’m going to shooting range. I don’t need to be quaked or soaked again, thanks.” Kate said. 

“Don’t be such a chicken Katie-Kat. It’ll be good practice against powered assailants.” Juliette teases, shucking her jumper and moving to the side of the room where there are buckets for sparring purposes. Mainly used for multi-level fighting, most first years start off on upturned buckets to get used to height differences, but also used by kids with water powers so they can practice. 

“If they’re powered, I’ll ice them. You two are scary when you go all Power Rangers on me.” Kate complained, picking herself off the floor before Daisy quaked her for the nickname. It was the Legacies called the Inhumans in their group. Daisy, Lincoln, Joey and Juliette all made up the Power Rangers. They even had matching shirts. 

“Pussy.” Daisy mumbled under her breath. It almost made Kate miss Skye, she didn’t curse as much. But she liked Daisy, she was funny and sarcastic and seriously good at fighting. Not to mention the hacking and language skills. 

“I heard that!” 

“Ты должен был это сделать.” (You were supposed to.) Daisy said cheerfully, cracking her knuckles as Juliette came back to the mats. 

“One of these days, one of us is going to speak Russian.” Kate sighed as she headed off to the range. 

“And yet, it hasn’t happened yet.” Daisy grinned at Juliette. 

“Nicht alle von uns können fünfundzwanzig Sprachen sprechen.” (Not all of us can speak twenty five languages.) Juliette said, rolling her eyes. 

“Tjue seks faktisk.” (Twenty six actually.) 

“I don’t even know what language that is.” 

“It’s Norwegian. We stopped by Thor’s New Asgard on the way back from Germany.” Daisy says casually, like she didn’t just drop by the _God of Thunder’s_ home. 

“Your life is really something else, Romanoff. Okay, rules?” 

“No serious injuries, tap out anytime, no destroying the room.” Daisy recited. There were stricter rules when their sparring sessions were being monitored in class but when it was just training like this, it was more relaxed. 

Which wasn’t always a good thing. Trip still complained about his arm when it rained. But in Daisy’s opinion, he shouldn’t have said she couldn’t beat him blindfolded. 

Juliette nodded and got into a fighting stance. She liked sparring, especially with Daisy. It didn’t help the massive crush she had on her at all, but it helped with stressing under pressure. 

“Go!” Daisy shouted. 

Juliette attacked first, going on the offensive with a sharp jab to Daisy’s side but she dodged and circled Juliette’s body, catching the girl’s left arm to flip her to the mat. Juliette used the momentum and rolled with it, slipping out of Daisy’s grasp and ending at the edge of the mat. 

She stuck her hand out to the buckets and concentrated hard on the water. It reacted to her call and rose out of the bucket, swirling in mid-air until she pushed her hands towards Daisy and it soaked the girl with a strong wave. 

Daisy squealed and tried to dodge the water, but unfortunately she got hit with the brunt of the wave. Juliette was distracted with laughing so didn’t see her left arm raise. She let out a small stream of air to roll Juliette off the mat, catching up with her as she rolled and landing on top of her. 

“And you’re dead.” She grinned in victory. They had to call their defeats in order for it to count. If someone got to close and ended up on top, you were dead. If they got a gun to your back or head and you couldn’t get away, you were dead. If you ended up swinging from the rafters because you offended Daisy, you were Forther and you were dead. 

“Does this have to happen every time? You can’t just let me win just once?” Juliette whined, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as Daisy shifted on top of her. The younger girl smirked and moved her face an inch away from Juliette’s. 

“You were distracted. Distracted agents get killed.” 

“That’s hardly my fault. You were the one who distracted me, Morse.” Juliette groaned, trying desperately to keep her heartbeat under control, knowing Daisy could sense it. 

“Didn’t realise I was that interesting.” Daisy practically purred, and oh god, Juliette was falling right into her trap. Daisy was always a flirt and an awful tease, half the words she spoke, in any of her twenty six fucking languages, held some sort of innuendo now. It was just ramped up to 100 when they were sparring. 

And Juliette liked it. She liked it a lot. 

“Yep. But you seem to have made a fatal error.” 

“And what would that be?” 

“You didn’t hold down my arms.” And with that, Juliette brought her hands up and covered Daisy in water from yet another bucket. Daisy’s eyes widened as she was hit with another wave. 

“Low blow, Jules. Low blow.” 

“And yet, you’re still friends with me.” 

“I’m beginning to regret that decision. The HYDRA officers were nicer.” 

“That’s a bit far.” Juliette giggled. Daisy rolled her eyes and gave her a smile. 

“Wanna go put pink hair dye in Davis’ shampoo bottle?” 

“Obviously. Should we invite Kate?” Juliette asked. Daisy rolled off her finally, and she almost missed the warmth. 

“Yeah sure. I’ll go get Lila, she’s just coming out of her last class. We can do the hair dye then go get coffee.” 

“The fact that you two know each other’s schedules so well is adorable.” Juliette teased, even though it felt like a lie. Daisy and Lila had broken up, but they were so obviously still in love with each other, she still had no hope of ever dating Daisy. 

“Oh shut up.” Daisy laughed, grabbing her SHIELD Comms Academy hoodie. She was still laughing as she left and missed Juliette’s sad smile. 

Maybe one day Juliette would tell Daisy how she felt. 

“Hey Katie-Kat? Wanna go dye Davis’ hair?” She called out to the archer. Kate dropped from the ledge built into the walls of the range so the kids training as snipers could try long distance. 

“Obviously, my little English friend.” 


	30. You Know What They Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That age old saying, when two anorexics and a Sokovian with anxiety walk into a cafeteria...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Wanda, Scarlett and Daisy fluff mixed with a tiny bit of angst for spice. 
> 
> Also they call Scarlett “Lottie” in this fic from here on out, because I cannot stay away from nicknames. 
> 
> WARNINGS: slight anorexia, past child abuse 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“C’mon, please Wanda!” Scarlett practically begged. The Sokovian shook her head stubbornly. 

“We have a bio test in a week, chem tomorrow, English essay due next week, maths quiz-“ 

“You can study in the cafeteria, now please come. Me and DJ aren’t allowed to eat alone.” It was a low blow, but Scarlett thought it would help her case a little. 

“And no one else can go?” 

“No, they’re all busy.” 

“Fine. But if you and Daisy start talking about calories again, I will give you both wetting the bed dreams.” Wanda warned. She’d gotten the whole “accidental dream sharing” thing under control, unless they were especially horrific, like Daisy’s often were. But Wanda just moved to the other side of the room and Daisy was getting better at waking herself up. 

Or maybe she wasn’t sleeping at all, none of them ever actually knew. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you, you’re the light of my life.” Scarlett gushed sarcastically, but she did shoulder Wanda’s bag for her. 

“I’m telling Trip you said that.” 

“Then I’ll tell Lila that you stole her cookies.” 

“You wouldn’t dare.” Wanda said. Look, it had been a very long night of studying and Lila’s cookies, (specifically brought from Germany by Daisy) were right there. Lila still thought that it was Pietro. 

“Wassup, sluts.” Daisy greeted them when they reached the cafeteria. She’d surprised everyone today by wearing something other than black, but that did mean that it was a yellow SHIELD shirt and dark wash mom jeans, with neon green socks and checkered vans. Somehow, she pulled it off and Wanda didn’t even want to question how the girl dealt with the sudden attention she was getting as she grew up. 

“Must you greet us all like that, Romanoff?” Wanda sighed. 

“Of course I do. It’s my job as the baby of the group to annoy the fuck out of everyone, but also be the joy of your very existence. I think I’m succeeding.” Daisy smirked, lifting her backpack from the floor where she’d left whilst she waited for them. 

“I didn’t realise we had specific roles.” Scarlett said. 

“Of course we do. I’m the baby, Lila’s the mom. Robbie’s the therapist, Pietro’s the clingy boyfriend. You and Trip are the straight power couple, whilst Robbie and Pietro are the gay power couple. Wanda is the uwu friend, Piper is our terrifying guard dog, Davis is the token straight. Joey and Lincoln are the gay neighbours from next door. And Jules is the newcomer in the Hallmark movie that is our lives.” 

“I think you were mixing up all your metaphors there, Zee.” Wanda commented. “But you’re correct anyway.” 

“So...you know the old saying. Two anorexics and a Sokovian with anxiety walk into a cafeteria.” Daisy said as they entered. 

“And what? Eat lunch?” Scarlett said, rolling her eyes. 

“Well the normal answer is “fuck under the table and drink a lot of vodka” but that might just be the Russian version. Since we’re in America, it’s eat lunch.” Daisy didn’t even miss a beat, causing a groan from both Wanda and Scarlett. 

The three girls walked up to the server, staring at the menu. It never did really get any more appetising and Daisy couldn’t even eat half of it. She ended up grabbing a box of gluten-free cereal from breakfast time and a bowl and milk. Scarlett ended up with the vegetable bake, trying to ignore the overwhelming urge to google the amount of calories in the dish. Recovery was always a long road, and she’d been out of inpatient for over a year now. Didn't make it any easier. Wanda offered her a comforting hand squeeze before grabbing her own meal, meatballs in marinara sauce. If there was one thing she liked about the US, it was the food. 

“Okay, so what’s the tea?” Daisy asked once they’d all tucked into their meals. 

“God, you’re so gay.” Scarlett sighed. 

“I’m bisexual, thank you.” 

“I have never once, in my three years of knowing you, heard you talk about a man.” Wanda said, ignoring Daisy’s glare by turning back to her book. 

“Men are weak, women are supreme. Oh, sorry Lottie.” 

“You’re not wrong. Our boys are the exceptions.” Scarlett laughed, noticing how Daisy ate similarly to herself. Play with the food until it resembled mush that could be easily eaten without thought or feeling. 

“Correct. I mean...just...women, yknow?” Daisy sighed, crossing her legs under her at the table. Nothing would convince her to sit on a chair, absolutely nothing. 

“Again, so gay.” Scarlett said. 

“I’m well aware of that fact, thank you.” Daisy said in an almost perfect British accent.

“Your accents getting better.” Wanda said. 

“A certain English girl has been teaching me when we spar.” Daisy grinned. 

“You’ve gotta stop flirting with her, Zee. You’re gonna give her an aneurysm if you walk through the dorm in just a sports bra again.” Scarlett told her. 

“Hey, it’s not my fault I’m so good looking.” And she actually gave them finger guns. 

“Who’s to blame for that then and are they the same person that gave you the self-confidence of Trump, because if so, they really need to sort out their priorities.” It was clear she wasn’t going to get anything done, not whilst this conversation was so interesting, so she put away her books and fully tuned into Daisy and Scarlett. 

“Dead parents. Supremacist Russians. The Black Widow and Mockingbird also known as my scary mama bears. HYDRA.” Daisy waved her spoon around for emphasis. “The list goes on.” 

“And we have arrived at Angst Station. You’re worse than a Stucky fanfiction.” Scarlett laughed. 

“You’ve actually read Steve and Bucky fanfic?” Daisy said in horror. 

“Uh, yeah?” 

“How was it?” 

“Pretty good. Lots of angst, lots of fluff to balance it out. The smut in the middle was unexpected.” Scarlett told her, confused at why Daisy was even asking. 

“Great, send it to me later.” 

“Uh Zee? Isn’t that your uncles?” Wanda said nervously. 

“Oh my fucking god. I’m not going to get off on fanfic written about my uncles. We send the worst ones we can find to the Avengers family group chat and the one who can find the best or worst one depending on who you ask, gets a prize.” Daisy explained through disgusted outrage. She was into some weird shit but smutty fanfiction about her literal family was not one of them. 

“Your family are weird.” Scarlett said giggling. 

“And your family ran a restaurant in Alaska to keep up with the mob. Anyway, how’s everyone’s love life?” Daisy said, abruptly changing the subject. It happened a lot, her mind would just wander during conversations and they’d start on a topic and end up having a discussion about something completely different in five minutes. 

“Non-existent.” Wanda said flatly. Daisy laughed and flicked her arm. 

“Shock horror. That’s the way you like it though. What about you, Lottie?” 

“Trip’s great. He’s kind and caring and considerate and overall the perfect guy.” If she went any longer, Daisy was pretty sure she would get heart eyes just talking about her boyfriend. “And you, Daisy?” 

“Eh, I’m kinda just going with the flow.” 

“Would that flow be a complicated love triangle?” Wanda said causing Daisy’s eyebrows to raise confusedly. 

“What gives you that idea?” 

“Oh please. You and Lila are practically still a couple you just don’t say it out loud. Don’t think we didn’t notice that you sleep in her bed three nights a week or the hickeys on her neck when you two disappeared off the lake a week ago, or that you both smelt of vodka.” Wanda was calling her out because she was worried one of them, or all of them, was only going to get hurt. And she’d promised after what happened to Daisy in June that she wouldn’t let it happen again. She’d seen enough of their nightmares to know that hurting each other was their biggest fear.

”That wouldn’t constitute a love triangle.” 

“Well, then there’s Jules. She’s falling harder for you every time you bloody look in her direction and you keep flirting with her.” Scarlett told her. Daisy just sighed and brought her legs up to her chest. 

“Am I leading them on?” She said in a small voice and Wanda’s heart broke. It was easy to forget that Daisy was young, and had a weird upbringing that meant she was emotionally stunted in some areas, not even counting the entire month she spent brainwashed and out of control of her own body. 

“No, sestra. You just need to decide what or who you want, before all of you get hurt.” Wanda told her gently, placing a hand on Daisy’s knee. She’d gotten better at the “not flinching when anyone touched her”. 

“Thanks.” She said softly and Scarlett gave her a grin. 

“Wanna go running later?” She offered. 

“Obviously. Think you can keep up?” 

“No, that’s why I’m bringing Trip and Pietro. Me and Trip will actually run at a normal pace whilst you and Pietro try to outrun each other without his or your powers. It’s very entertaining.” 

“Oh please, you just want time with your boyfriend.” Wanda laughed at Scarlett’s narrowed eyes. 

“Well, this has been fun but I have a date with Professor Rhymes. We’re moving on to deep cover espionage and I think it could be getting serious.” Daisy said, sliding off the table and grabbing her backpack. “Thanks for everything, motherfuckers. Bye, love you.” 

“Think she’ll do anything about the Lila and Jules situation?” Scarlett asked once Daisy had left. 

“No. But I hope they work it out soon.” 

“Sorry about distracting you from studying.” 

“Well, I’m not the one who’ll be having a spider nightmare tonight.” Wanda said, putting an evil smile on her face just to freak Scarlett out. 

“Wanda!” 


	31. We Should Talk(part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila and Jules have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, I present to you, a three part series within a massive chapter fic. 
> 
> Basically it’s just Lila, Daisy and Jules working out their little triangle. 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Juliette walked back into the dorm after a long and frankly gruelling day. They were learning bomb disposal in Ops, which meant high stakes and high stress repetition of taking a bomb apart piece by piece, only to put it back together again and do it quicker. 

“We should talk.” Lila says as soon as she collapses on her bed. Her tone makes Juliette shoot back up, checking the rest of the room. It’s just the two of them here, everyone else was at the library or the gym or doing whatever. Daisy and Trip were going to play paintball and they’d invited her along, but she turned them down. She really didn’t need to see Daisy flirting with her in skin tight camo with a massive gun on her shoulder. 

Nope, not at all. And especially not if this “talk” with Lila is going to go the way she thinks it will. 

“What about?” She asks. Lila sighs and moves over to sit on her bed. 

“Daisy.” 

Oh god. This is it. This is the day her life ends. Lila Barton is fully capable of killing her, and she’s been flirting with her ex, who are both still very in love with each other. 

“Oh.” She says eventually. “Is this going to be a good talk or a bad talk?” 

“That depends.” 

“Lovely. Uh, well if you feel like slapping me any time during this conversation please go right ahead, I won’t hold it against you.” Juliette babbles and Lila raises an eyebrow. 

“Why would I slap you?” 

“Is this not a “stay away from Daisy or I’ll throttle you” talk?” She’s starting to get fidgety, Lila’s quietness is scaring her. She quickly grabs a Rubik’s Cube from the fidget toy box on the shelf. Lila doesn’t even bat an eye, which really says something about the habits of the people in this dorm. 

“No. I just wanted to know if you were gonna ask her out.” 

“So...you as Daisy’s ex-girlfriend, want to talk to me about dating Daisy?” Juliette asks confusedly. 

“Yup.” Lila pops the “p”. She doesn’t really want to have this conversation either, but hey, she has eyes. She’s noticed that Daisy’s flirting with petty much anything that moves recently, which is a part of her charm to be fair. But she was practically waving the possibility of a relationship in front of Juliette’s face and the English girl still seemed a bit slow on the uptake. So, she’d help them in the right direction even if it hurt like hell. 

“Uh okay.” Juliette stammers. Look, she’s not scared of Lila or even the possibility of dating Daisy, it’s just that this is the first girl she’s ever liked, properly fell for. It’s kind of a big deal. 

And she would pick the girl with a truckload of baggage, an ex she’s still got the hots for, and all the power to snap her neck with her pinky toe. 

“Can I be frank with this?” Lila asks, threading her fingers together in her lap. Seriously, when Lila takes over as Deputy Director, (because that’s obviously happening) Juliette’s gonna do everything and anything she can to keep in her good books. 

“Of course.” 

“Daisy’s an awful tease, a raging top with all sorts of issues that translate to her fucking weird kinks. Seriously, pull her hair and she’s practically putty. But look, I like you Jules, I’m just telling you to be careful.” 

“Of Daisy?” Juliette’s kinda forgotten how to breathe after Lila’s speech. Putting aside the hair pulling thing, (though she will be testing that out) these are things they all know. It is common knowledge that Daisy had damage, you only have to watch her for about an hour to know that, no matter how well she hides it. 

“I love her but that girl’s got a lot of issues.” 

“I can live with that. I’m not gonna run just because she’s got baggage. We’ve all got baggage, Lila. It’s what makes us human beings.” Juliette says, almost indignantly. She knows Lila doesn’t mean any harm, Lila never could actually hurt someone without reason. She’s just too good. Which is what makes this whole thing so infuriating. 

Lila Barton is almost perfection. She was pretty and funny and wicked smart. She could make you do almost anything just by glaring at you and her dad is a fucking Avenger. How could Juliette ever live up to that? Lila knew everything about Daisy, they grew up together for God’s sake. Juliette could never be good enough for Daisy. So why did she want to be? 

“I know, trust me, I know. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.” 

“But what about all those hickeys and times you two spend clearly _not_ not dating?” Juliette asks. 

“We were drunk and sad and lonely. It was just a bit of fun. I swear, it didn’t really mean anything.” Lila promises with a sigh. 

“Did you want it to mean anything?” 

“We have an arrangement. Me and Daisy, I mean. When we broke up, we promised to find ourselves first before seeing if there could be an us. If we need to date other people to do that, then so be it.” Lila explained. 

“You two are weird.” Juliette says after she’s processed that. 

“Yeah, we get that a lot.” 

“So, you’re saying you’re fine if I do date Daisy?” 

“I’m saying that you don’t need to worry about me getting pissed or something if you do.” 

“That’s cryptic.” 

“I don’t think either of us want to be in this weird love triangle any longer than we have to be. If you wanna date Daisy then you can. But you have to be prepared for the possible repercussions, Jules.” Lila says, picking the blue polish on her nails. 

“And those are?” 

“She could break your heart.” 

“That can happen in any relationship though, Lil.” Juliette tells her. She’s nearly got the Rubik’s Cube done she’s that nervous. 

“Yeah.” Lila agrees. “Do you want to ask her out?” 

“Maybe. I feel like she doesn’t really want to date me though.” 

“She wouldn’t use you like that, she’s not that kind of person. She’s very vocal about what she wants, trust me.” 

“Lot of experience there, Barton?” Juliette teases. They’re back to comfortable territory now, the worst of this is over and hey, she didn’t die. Maybe there is a God. 

“You know...me and Daisy...we never...” Lila indicated the rest with her hands until Juliette groaned. 

“Okay, okay, I get the picture. A mutual thing I presume?” 

“We weren’t ready. I know we all forget but Zee’s only fifteen. She might be flirty as hell and has a libido like fucking Hot Wheels, but she gets weirdly tense when you actually get down and dirty-“ 

“TMI Lila!”

“-so I wouldn’t worry too much.” Lila finished with a smirk. 

“Gross, Barton. Truly disgusting.” 

“So, we’re good?” Lila said almost anxiously. 

“We’re good.” 

“Yeah, you should talk to Daisy. After I talk to Daisy.”

”You’re gonna talk to her? About this?” 

“She’s still my best friend. We talk, yknow.” Lila said casually, like she hasn’t just told Juliette that she was going to talk to her ex about her possible new girlfriend.

”Cool.” 


	32. Quake and Hawkeye Have Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does what it’s says on the tin, Kate and Daisy have coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters kinda bad ngl I’m sorry 
> 
> Also yes, iced coffee is the drink of the gays 
> 
> WARNINGS: slight kink mentions (and I mean slight) 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“So tell me, dearest, what the fuck is going on with you?” Kate asked Daisy, as they slipped into the booth in the campus coffee shop, JetFuel. A lot of the students worked here in their fourth year, it was better than helping train the first years and cleaner than maintaining the Quinjets. 

“You really don’t beat around the bush, do you Bishop?” Daisy quipped, but she was only buying time to answer. In truth, she had no idea what was happening. Somehow, she’d gotten herself into the middle of a complicated love triangle, whilst also dealing with the sudden remembrance of an entire month of pure hell, and two Academies at once. 

In short, she was stressed as fuck. Which is why she had jumped at the chance when Kate wanted a coffee date to talk it all out. 

“Nope. Now, spill.” Kate smirked and took a sip of her cappuccino as Daisy looked away. 

“I didn’t even realise what was happening with Jules until I was suddenly in the middle of a fucking telenovela. I’ve got Lila on one side, Jules on the other, and I have no idea what to do.” 

“God Romanoff, you’re hopeless.” Kate laughed. Daisy glared at her. “Only you would be able to get yourself in the middle of a love triangle.” 

“It’s not funny, Kate! I have no idea what I’m doing!” Daisy groaned, nearly ready to thump her head on the table out of frustration. 

“Do you want my advice?” Kate offered, placing the sugar packets in front of Daisy before the girl started throwing knives or something, she knew what Daisy was like when she was stressed. Distraction, she needed her hands busy. Kate got that, and normally they all carried fidget toys or something, but they’d somehow forgotten today and all she had was her bow and arrows, as they were training after. And she like JetFuel, she really didn’t want a ban for handling weapons in a public safe space.

”Please. Thanks by the way.” Daisy nodded to the sugar packets as she began to sort them into rows, constantly changing the pattern of their movements like a poker dealer. Kate waved her off. 

“Look, we all know that you and Lila are still in love with each other-“ 

“How does that help-“ Daisy was cut off when Kate put a finger over her lips, silencing her. 

“You wanted my advice, so I’m going to give you it. Also stop giving me puppy eyes, we all know you like shit like this.” The heavy blush that that elicited was enough to make her smirk and ignore the following glare. She continued:

“As I was saying, we all know that you and Lila still love each other, but now you’ve added in Jules, who looks at you like you hung the fucking moon, Dais. And I know it’s not just casual flirting because I’ve watched your sparring sessions and needed brain bleach after. You like Jules, too.” 

“So what do I do?” Daisy persisted. 

“You and Lila have an agreement don’t you? You can date other people?” 

“You make it sound like an open relationship when me and Lila aren’t even dating anymore. But yes, we have an agreement. We can date other people.” Daisy confirmed, still moving the sugar packets with one hand as she sipped her iced coffee, yknow, just in case she wasn’t gay enough already. 

“So, if I wanted to date Lila, you’d be okay with it?” Kate hedged. She wasn’t into Lila but this would test Daisy. 

“Yeah. Look, I’m not a jealous person. I want Lila to be happy, so if she was happy with you then I would be happy. Though I do have to tell you, there’s this spot behind her ear that if you-“ 

“Enough! Daisy I’m not into Lila, so I don’t need that information thanks.” Kate cut her off. Daisy raised an eyebrow. 

“So that was just a test?” 

“You got it. Now...Jules.” 

“Yeah...Jules.” Daisy said softly. 

“Do you like her?” This clearly wasn’t something Daisy wanted to talk about so openly, so Kate lowered her voice to match Daisy’s. 

“Yeah. But I don’t think I want a proper relationship with her, not like what I had with Lila.” 

“So, you want friends with benefits basically?” Kate asks and Daisy blushes again. 

“That’s not fair to Jules.” 

“You’d be surprised. I don’t think she’s ready for a proper relationship either, but you should talk to her about that.” Kate had already talked to Jules about this, because apparently her and Lila were the people with all the relationship advice. 

Which was hilarious because Kate had dated a total number of zero people in her life. 

“I will. Anyway, moving on from my little train wreck of a life, what about you?” Daisy said, ending the conversation. Kate sighed and took another long sip of coffee. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She said eventually. 

“Well, yeah I really would.” Daisy replied in tandem. She giggled when Kate flicked her on the forehead and yep, there was the knife in the table. “Still perfectly capable of killing you.” 

“I raise you that knife with this arrow.” Kate stuck on of her arrows in the table next to Daisy’s hand. To onlookers, this probably looked psychopathic, but this was just a bit of fun for them. 

“Nice, new tips?” Daisy plucked the stole out of the wood and examined the tip. 

“Yep, Sci-Tech finally got around to those steel capped ones, apparently they’ll be great emergency grappling hooks.” 

“Cool. Doesn’t answer my question though. Who have you the hots for, Katie-Kat?” Because of course the one time she couldn’t distract Daisy with weapons would be about her love life. 

“Promise not to tell?” 

“Cross my heart.” 

“It’s Piper.” Kate admitted. 

“Of course it is.” Daisy smirked. Kate slapped her on the upside of the head. “No need for violence Barton.” 

“Every need for violence. Always a need for violence, Morse.” Kate grumbled. 

“Eh, I have to agree there, but apparently that’s because I’m a Cancer.” 

“You cannot blame everything on your zodiac sign.” 

“I can so!” Daisy exclaimed. 

“You don’t see me blaming everything on the fact that I’m a Virgo!” 

“No, you blame it on your lesbianism and shitty father.” 

“Oh please, Little Miss Angst-Train!” Kate defended and then they were laughing. Daisy snorted and Kate could barely breathe from the strain in her chest from laughing so hard. 

“Okay, okay. So, Piper?” Daisy said eventually, wiping her eyes. 

“Yeah. But they’re kind of unattainable. They’re not interested in me at all-“ 

“Are you blind, Bishop? Piper has been making eyes at you for about a month!” Daisy said exasperatedly. 

“Seriously?” It wasn’t often that Kate was so self-conscious but she didn’t like people often. “Wait I thought they liked Cassie Thomas? Or was it Callie?” 

“They did like Callie, but then Callie posted some story on Instagram about being against non-binary people and well, you can imagine how that ended.” Daisy explained and Kate didn’t miss the angry tone in her voice. Clearly, Callie had already been called out. 

“So you think I have a chance?” 

“Jesus, are we all this self-deprecating? Yes, you have a massive chance, so please go ask them out.” 

“Yes, we are all this self-deprecating or you haven’t been in a conversation with yourself, and only if you talk to Jules.” Kate said, draining the rest of her coffee. Daisy did the same and nodded, grabbing her training bag from under the table. 

“Yeah, I will. And we should do this more often, we really don’t see enough of each other these days.” 

“We live together, Zee.” 

“Exactly. Don’t you want more of my presence?” Daisy laughed. 

“I’m about to destroy your presence.” 

“Ooh, we love the murder vibes. Very sexy.” 

“Ugh, you would be into the weird S+M shit.” Kate groaned, blinking as they stepped into the harsh March sunlight. 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Daisy said, but Kate was already walking away. “Kate? Kate! Hold up, you need to explain that!” 


	33. We Should Talk(part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Lila talk in the common room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh this chapter makes me sad, I miss them together but unfortunately they can’t get together yet so I’m sorry :( 
> 
> Instead you get them being besties 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Hey.” Daisy says when they sit down in the common room. It feels too awkward, she’s already uncomfortable in a way she never has been with Lila apart from last summer. 

“Hey.” Lila echoes. She picks at her nail polish anxiously, something she replaced biting her nails with. Fuck, why is this so awkward? Daisy is her best friend, but also her ex, and they’re going to talk about the possibility of Daisy dating or whatever she wants to do, with another one of her best friends. 

God, their lives were weird. 

“This is like old times, isn’t it? Talking about girls, weird tension in the air, all we need now is Hunter or Cooper waking in on us to make a suggestive comment.” Daisy sighs, tucking her legs under herself. 

“Except it’s not like old times is it? We dealt with that weird tension.” Lila says. 

“I’m still sorry about that. But you get it...right?” Daisy asks uncertainly, vulnerability in her eyes that Lila doesn’t often see. 

“Of course I get it. You’ve nothing to be sorry for. We’re not like Robbie and Pietro, we need time to work out who we are, that was the agreement. I’m good with that, Zee. I promise.” Lila tells her, resting a hand on Daisy’s knee. 

“So, you wanted to talk?” Daisy says, changing the subject from their own relationship. Lila sighs. 

“Yeah. About Jules.” 

“Right. Jules.” 

“So, what’s your plan of action?” Lila says, grabbing one of the packs of gummy bears they always have on the table and ripping it open. 

“Who calls it a “plan of action”? It’s not a mission, butterfly.” Daisy laughs. 

“Hey! I’m not number one in Comms for nothing.” Lila rolled her eyes at Daisy. 

“Alright, alright, _Director_.” 

“I thought you were the one taking over the agency?” 

“Oh please, I’m a defected assassin from Russia who gets kidnapped every couple of years. I’ve got too many issues to take over the entirety of SHIELD. Nah, I’m looking at my own STRIKE team.” Daisy laughed, but they both knew the truth behind her words. 

“Uh...so. Jules. What’s the plan?” Lila said after they processed Daisy’s words.

“Haven’t quite worked it out yet. Neither of us are ready for everything that comes with a relationship, and she’s definitely not ready for the absolute chaos I bring. I don’t want to hurt her, Lil. Not like I-“ 

“Don’t. You didn’t hurt me, Dais. We’re just not ready for each other.” Lila cut her off, because they weren’t doing this again. That’s how they ended up drunk making out at the lake. 

“I know. Doesn’t stop me feeling like a piece of shit.” Daisy exhaled heavily, placing her head on her knees. 

“Yeah, well you’re not. And I don’t care what you say and neither does Jules. You deserve to be happy, Zee. We all do.” Lila said, popping another gummy bear in her mouth. 

“What if this goes horribly wrong? What if one of us falls and the other doesn’t? I could just hurt her more in the long run.” Daisy asked softly. 

“Then you work it out. That’s what you do, Dais. You work a problem until it’s solved. You always have.” 

“Much to my mom’s disappointment. Remember when I wanted to reprogram the whole of the SHIELD servers?” Daisy laughs. 

“I think we all remember that. You didn’t sleep for three days and I think you nearly overdosed on Ritalin and Monster Energy.” Lila groans. 

“Had the best sleep of my life after that. And hey, the servers are safe aren’t they?” 

“Yes, but is your liver?” Lila protests. 

“My liver is fine thanks, it’s the vodka that would fuck that up.” 

“At least you’re not an alcoholic.” Lila sighs, and Daisy flips her off. 

“Nah, I keep all my problems right here in my chest and one day, I’ll die.” Daisy says dramatically. 

“Did you just use John Mulaney to describe your shitty mental health?” 

“Of course I did, butterfly. Gotta keep them on their toes.” Daisy laughs. The air in the room between them is cleaner, they can breathe easier now. 

“You’re ridiculous.” 

“But you love me.” Daisy grins. “In the platonic and sometimes not platonic but we’re figuring it out slowly, kind of way.” 

“You just had to bring feelings into it.” Lila sighed, resting her head on Daisy’s shoulder. 

“Well, according to my shrink, I don’t fully understand social cues or emotions due to my emotionally stunted childhood and subsequent month of brainwashing. Oh, and the PTSD.” Daisy said, with an almost clinical voice. 

“Don’t forget the ADHD.” 

“Or the anxiety. 

“Nightmares.” 

“Panic attacks.” 

“Claustrophobia.” 

“BDSM kink everyone thinks I have.” 

“You do have a BDSM kink.” Lila giggled, dodging when Daisy went to pinch her. 

“It’s not as bad as everyone thinks! I’m not into the whole “leather body stocking with a ball gag whilst I cane someone’s ass”, Jesus.” Daisy protested. 

“True. But you are a raging top.” Lila said. 

“I don’t deny that. Think Jules is into it?” 

“I’m pretty sure she nearly orgasms every time you pin her when you spar, so yes, Daisy. I think she’s into it.” Lila agreed exasperatedly. 

“I think we just hit a new level in friendship.” Daisy told her. 

“And that would be?” 

“Talking about what makes girls hot for us.” Daisy said, and she gave Lila finger guns. _Finger guns_. 

“You seriously concern me sometimes.” 

“It’s part of my charm.” Daisy said. 

“Sure.” 


	34. The Great Prank War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Great Prank War of 2021

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a mess and I apologise profusely, I’m so sorry. 
> 
> WARNINGS: kinks (look it’s all in good fun but if it’s not your thing then it’s not massive in this fic, I’m sorry, I just like writing that shit) 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Lila! Help us!” Trip called from the boys dorm. Half the group were in here, Trip was cuddled with Scarlett on his bed, Kate and Piper were wrapped around each other and Robbie and Pietro were practically spooning. 

The other half of the group were off doing their own things before they kicked into gear for exams. Daisy and Jules were finally having that talk she’s pretty sure, Davis was in a study group with Wanda, and Lincoln and Joey were on a date.

”With what?” She says as she enters the dorm. 

“Our prank.” Trip tells her, glee lacing his voice. 

“I’m pretty sure I’m on the other team.” Lila says quickly. 

They’d divided into teams for the Great SHIELD Prank War of 2021. Every year, second year students and above got involved in the prank war, first years were too busy trying to keep their heads afloat. It was basically like the Capture the Flag game, with inter-year wars first and then the winners from each year went against each other. 

Daisy, Jules, Lila, Davis, Joey, Lincoln and Wanda made up one team. Trip, Scarlett, Kate, Piper, Robbie and Pietro were the others. And they were the last ones left in their year after Daisy’s team took out Forther’s teams by gluing all their belongings to the ceiling and locking the doors so that they thought the world had gone upside down. Forther admitted defeat when two of his teammates started crying they were that confused. 

Yanzir and Taylor weren’t making it to third year. 

“C’mon, we need an advantage! Please Lila, we’ll make it worth your while.” Kate begged. 

“How? What will I get in return for betraying my team?” Lila said. 

“I’ll do your laundry for two months and clean the bathroom for a month.” Piper offered. 

“Throw in Daisy-wrangling for two weeks and I’m sold.” Lila countered. 

“Daisy-wrangling?” Robbie piped up. Lila rolled her eyes at his bed-head from cuddling Pietro, and Pietro’s matching rumpled pjs. The boys had clearly just rolled out of bed. 

“Our favourite assassin refuses to sleep at normal times, so someone has to make her go to sleep by 3:30. As long as she gets at least an hour or two, she’s fine.” Piper explained. 

“It’s an Inhuman thing.” Scarlett added. “Jules is the same.” 

“Jules will sleep like the dead for eight hours every night.” Kate laughed. 

“She’s an exception to the rule.” Lila said. “Or maybe Daisy is, who knows.” 

“So, you’ll help us?” Trip got them back to the point before they started arguing over Inhuman biology and sleep schedules and the romantic dramas of the year. 

“Sure. But this can never get back to my team or I’ll wake up with a knife in my chest.” Lila said, kicking Pietro until he moved slightly so she could snuggle in with Robbie. It was April but it was still kinda chilly, it didn’t get properly warm until May. Robbie always radiated body heat and Pietro, Lila and Daisy liked to curl into him like cats. 

“Okay, so you know the ones on the other team quite well right?” Scarlett asked. 

“I’m pretty sure we all know each other well, we’ve been living with other for like two years.” Lila said sarcastically, flaring when Robbie flicked her. 

“We meant specifics. Like the deep, dark and personal stuff.” He said. 

“Probably. Why?” 

“Our prank is a kink list. It’ll go up in the common room for 24 hours. They have 12 hours to retaliate or admit defeat or it stays up the entire day.” Kate explained, with an evil grin on her face. 

“Am I included on that list?” Lila asked uncertainly. It was a good prank, it used humiliation and fear to get them to back down or come down harder. She’d be worried, but she already knew that Daisy, Jules and Wanda were implementing their next prank the next morning, they just had to get the silly string and eggs from town. 

“Not very much. Just the basic vanilla stuff that nearly everyone’s into.” Scarlett reassured her. 

“So, is this why yall keep teasing Zee about her kinks?” Lila asked. 

“Nah, that’s just funny. Wait, you don’t think she’d actually kill any of us for this?” Trip said, suddenly scared. He’d known Daisy since she was eight years old, and he was still afraid of her when she was angry.

“Don’t worry, she has a lot of self control. I’d just avoid her when she’s carrying knives for a while.” Lila laughed, snorting when she saw the look of fear on Trip’s face. 

“She’s always carrying knives!” 

“Exactly.” 

“We have everyone else’s, we just need Daisy’s list.” Pietro said eventually. 

“She doesn’t exactly have a list. We never really talked about it in detail.” Lila admitted. “And a lot of her stuff is trauma based, so just be careful yeah? Same with Jules.” 

“Of course. It’s just a bit of fun. We probably won’t even leave it where people can see it, just so we know it’s there.” Scarlett soothed, understanding why Lila was apprehensive. Their prank was an invasion of privacy but they couldn’t really win any other way and hey, this was SHIELD, sometimes you played dirty. 

“As long as you don’t drive one of them to freak out, it’ll be fine. Now, with Daisy...”

* * *

“I’m going to kill them.” 

“I think you’d get expelled for that, babe.”   
  
“Not if no one finds the bodies.” Daisy said, pulling out a knife for effect. 

**Daisy Morse-Romanoff**

**Kink List (the small one)**

1) Biting 

2) Vampire Gloves 

3) Light Dom/Sub 

4) Bondage 

5) Edging 

6) Breathplay

7) Temperature Play 

8) Rope Play

**Juliette Mannings**

1) Dom/Sub 

2) Rope Play 

3) Scratching 

4) Collars 

5) Daisy Morse-Romanoff 

“Okay, that last one isn’t fair. I can’t be a kink, that’s not how it works.” Daisy whined. 

“What are vampire gloves?” Juliette asked at the same time.   
  
“Oh, they’re leather gloves with tiny spikes, mostly harmless, good if you’re just starting out. Hot if you get the spikes dragged down your back...” Daisy emphasised her point by running her nails down Juliette’s back. 

“Daisy...” Juliette whined when Daisy removed her hand. Daisy smirked in response. 

“Hey, scratchings on your list.” She chirped. “And why does everyone else’s say vanilla in block letters? We’re the only ones being exposed!”   
  
“You’re into temperature play?” Juliette asked distractedly so Daisy flicked her. 

“We can go back to that. We need to work out how we beat them.” 

“We’ve already set our prank.” Juliette said. 

“Yeah, I’m really glad FitzSimmons put a rush on that instant freeze. They should stay stuck to the floor for at least an hour, maybe more. Which gives us time to destroy these.” Daisy said, nodding to the papers. “Screw their negotiations.” 

“Maybe the papers don’t need to be destroyed so soon.” Juliette said hastily, making Daisy raise an eyebrow. 

“You want a list, Jules?” Juliette nodded her head emphatically. “I’ll make you a list, babe.” 

* * *

“We accept defeat.” Trip sighed the next morning when he couldn’t get his feet unstuck from the floor and was trapped in his boxers in instant ice. 

“Great. Now, unless you want your nuts cut off very slowly and painfully, I suggest you leave people’s private kinks, out of prank wars.” Daisy smiled from the door, twirling her knife just to show that she could. 

“We’re sorry?” Robbie said, sitting in the safety of his bed for now, but holding onto Pietro’s hand as the younger boy shivered on the floor. 

“Apology accepted. It wears off in an hour, see you at breakfast.” Juliette giggled as she grabbed Daisy and Wanda’s hand, who blew kisses to the boys and Kate and Piper when they ran past the Underwood Dorm, laughing all the way to the cafeteria. 


	35. We Should Talk(part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jules and Daisy finally talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will all be pleased to know that this is the end of the three chapter triangle! Daisy and Jules now have an agreement and we can probs concentrate on someone else for a while. 
> 
> I don’t think I need any WARNINGS but let me know! 
> 
> Enjoy! Thanks to everyone who’s keeping up with this, hope you’re still liking it! -bex xx

They hit the mats hard as Daisy overpowers Juliette with a sharp kick in the ribs causing her to double over and giving Daisy the opportunity to tumble them backwards. Daisy sits triumphantly on Jules chest, smirking as the girl squirms beneath her. 

“Normally, a girl’s on top of me for much nicer prospects.” Jules wheezes, and Daisy gives her a Cheshire Cat grin before leaning over her to look her directly in the eye. 

“That could be arranged,” Jules sucks in a sharp breath, “but we should talk about it first.” 

“We can’t exactly do that with you sitting on top of me.” Jules points out. 

“Sure we can, I’ll just make sure not move too much. It makes you all squirmy.” Daisy giggles, her brown eyes dancing with mischief as Jules glares. 

“Well, I’ve got a hot Russian assassin on top of me who flirts with me constantly, excuse me for being into it.” Jules says indignantly. 

“Into me, you mean.” Daisy says, causing Jules to roll her eyes. 

“Take you that long to notice?” 

“Oh no, I noticed the first time we sparred. Your knees almost gave out when I took my shirt off.” Daisy smirks again, and Jules would give anything for her to just kiss her right here in the gym. 

“Again, you’re a hot Russian assassin. I’m only human.” 

“Inhuman, actually. A very attractive Inhuman.” Daisy chirps but she does get off of Jules. “I don’t think we should talk about this in the gym.” 

“Me either. JetFuel?” 

“Sounds good.” 

They, coincidentally, sit in the same booth that Daisy and Kate sat in when they had a very similar conversation about this. Daisy’s thinking of renaming it. 

“The Sordid Love Affair Booth” has a ridiculous ring to it. 

“So...where do you even want to begin?” Daisy asks, taking charge of the situation. She takes out the tangle toy she stole from Garner, mainly to give her hands something to do before her mind starts wandering. 

“Well, neither of us want a proper full-blown relationship do we?” Jules asks. 

“No. Too much stress with everything else.” Daisy agrees. “You definitely don’t want one?” 

“Nope. My last relationship...didn’t end well. I’m not ready for another one like that, but I still want the other stuff.” 

“Can I ask what happened? Last time, I mean?” Daisy asks hesitantly. She’s not one to pry and she, more than anyone, understands keeping things from other people for your own well-being. 

“The commune burned down when I was fourteen. I was dating one of the girls there at the time, Rose. She didn’t make it.” Jules tells Daisy, avoiding her eyes. Daisy won’t judge her, in fact, she’s probably the only one who could understand it, but it doesn’t stop the ingrained need to avoid the pity in people’s eyes. 

And Daisy gets that. Every time she’s told someone about Russia, or when her mom was shot, or even last June, she avoids all eye contact. She will change the subject before someone can say “I’m sorry” or “that must have been awful”, because of course it fucking was. She doesn’t need to be told that, and she knows that Jules doesn’t either. 

“So what do you want?” She says instead. “The fun bits?” 

“Sex, you mean?” Jules asks nervously. 

“And people say I have a dirty mind.” Daisy teases, making Jules turn scarlet. 

“You do.” 

“I’m not that bad!” 

“You made the professor that was teaching us the value of sex for intel blush and stutter like a teenage boy.” Jules counters. 

“She shouldn’t have asked about Russian sex clubs.” 

“Why do you even know about those? You were eight when you were in the Red Room.” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Daisy smirks, gaining an exasperated groan out of Jules, but the girl is grateful for Daisy changing the subject. It still hurts too much to talk about Rose, but this is easy.

”I think I’ll live without that knowledge.” Jules says, taking a drink of her coffee. She will only drink the hot stuff, and she actually prefers tea like the good Brit she is, but the one they have here is shit, so she’ll stick to coffee right now. 

“Yeah, probably best. The things I learned about the female genitalia-“ Daisy gets cut off when Jules slaps a hand over her mouth. Daisy narrows her eyes and Jules takes her hand away before she gets bitten. “Rule number one. Don’t do that.” 

“Sorry.” Jules whispers. 

“It’s fine, you didn’t know. But seriously, we should talk about triggers and stuff we don’t like. Just in case.” 

“So we’re doing this? Friends with benefits?” She just wants clarification. 

“I’m in if you are.” 

“I’m in.” 

“Great. Any specifics I should know about before we go back to the dorm?” Daisy asks, catching Jules off guard. 

“The dorm?” 

“Unless you want the first time I kiss you to be in the very public coffee shop, I suggest we go back to the very empty dorm because everyone’s out.” Daisy says, keeping her eyes trained on Jules as she sips from her iced coffee. This girl was going to be the death of her. 

“Oh...” 

“Any specifics?” Daisy asked again. 

“Don’t slap me and we’ll be good to go.” Jules says. 

“Huh, same with me. Glad to know spankings out of the equation, that shit messes with my head. Got it, no slapping.” 

“Should we go then?” Jules asks. Daisy winks and slides out of the booth, giving Jules no option but to follow her. 

They don’t even make it the dorm. Daisy’s lips on hers before they even leave the stairwell. And Jules gets the feeling that this is going to be a very good thing, whatever it ends up being. 


	36. Tradition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post exams, the Legacies are back at the lake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh this chapter is so fluffy and sappy, I love it but I hate it lmao 
> 
> Happy Christmas if you celebrate! And Happy Holidays if you don’t, hope everyone has an amazing day! 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

It was late May and the second year exams were finally over. The Ops kids were still massaging their sore muscles, half their exam was an obstacle course from hell and a three night outdoor survival test. Comms kids were still trying to make their fingers work again after planning fake tactical missions, leading through code breaking books for hours and rooting out moles in the agency with the help of hackers, (aka Daisy and Darcy Lewis, two of the best in the world, never mind SHIELD). Sci-Tech kids were just coming down from the anxiety and coffee filled sleepless nights of experiments and weapons and engineering. 

But it was always worth it in the end. All the Legacies passed with flying colours, and were accepted into third year, unlike nearly half of their year. 

“I knew Forther was shady. He was always obsessed with you, Dais, it makes sense he was a rat.” Davis complained. The time honoured tradition of drinking at the lake post exams was being upheld. 

“I still can’t believe half our year were working for other agencies. And that we didn’t notice it.” Kate added. 

It was happening in all years of the Academy, but second year were the worst. Agencies were sending in spies to the Academy, mostly to train their agents better, but also to watch the competition. Daisy and Darcy were in an online hacking contest one night when they found the messages being sent through encrypted channels. They took it to Maria, who took it to Coulson, who in turn brought his best interrogators to work out who was working for who. 

CIA, FBI, HYDRA, AIM, MI5 in London. All of them had spies. They lost over 500 recruits. 

“At least they’re gone now.” Daisy said, taking a shot after. “Vodka’s better this year.” 

“That’s because it’s yours, babe.” Jules laughed at Daisy’s mock offence. “Didn’t you wonder why no one else would touch it?”

”Light weights.” Daisy mumbled, smirking when Lila flicked her. 

“So, what’s everyone’s summer plans?” She asked. “I know that Wanda, Pietro, Robbie and me are going to the farm.” 

“Pipes and Kate are staying with me at Providence.” Davis told them. 

“Me and Lottie are splitting time between my place and hers in Alaska.” Trip added. 

“Playground’s under quarantine because of some alien virus, so me and Jules are going to the Tube. My moms are stationed there anyway, something about HYDRA labs or whatever.” Daisy piped up. 

“Lincoln and Joey are staying there too. As is Darcy Lewis, last I heard.” Jules said. 

“Thought HYDRA were gone for good this time.” Wanda said softly. Lila put an arm round her shoulder. 

“Cut off one head, two more grow back. I don’t think they’ll ever really be gone. Fucking snakes are too stubborn to die. But we do our best.” Daisy said roughly. That was the other reason she was going to Tube. If HYDRA were back _again_ , she wanted to be as far away as possible and unfortunately the SHIELD base in Siberia was closed off, so London was good enough. 

“Dorms are different next year. Who are yall rooming with?” Piper asked. Third years were in double dorms, two to a room. It was a strange system, four kids to seven to two back to four in fourth year. Room allocations came out when the acceptance letters did. 

“I’m with Kate.” Scarlett said. 

“Piper.” Lila said. 

“Jules.” Wanda piped up. 

“Darcy Lewis, funnily enough.” Daisy laughed. She handed the vodka back to Robbie, the only other person who could stomach the strong Russian stuff. “Must have been fate.” 

“And you, gentlemen?” Lila prodded Pietro who poked her right back. 

“Trip.” Davis sighed. “Which means I’ll get the lovebirds all year.” 

“Better you than me.” Kate snarked. “Oh wait, they’ll be in mine too. Fine, Pipes, we’re doing it in my room from now on.” 

“You really don’t need to discuss our sex life in front of everyone babe, thanks.” Piper said, dragging Kate over and placing her in their lap. Kate giggled softly and cuddled into her partner. 

“Me and Robbie are sharing.” Pietro said happily. 

“So everyone avoid Room 505, duly noted.” Daisy called. 

“And me and Joey are sharing too.” Lincoln smirked. 

“And Room 507.” Davis sighed. “I’m surrounded with horny teenagers.” 

“Davis, you _are_ a horny teenager. We all know what you and Maia Cross got up to behind the bleachers on Tuesdays and Fridays.” Daisy said laughing. 

“How do you even know about that?” He asked indignantly, which of course just spurred on their teasing. 

“I’m a trained spy, remember? I didn’t do six years in Russia for nothing.” Daisy said, but she still took a swig of vodka when she did, despite her light tone. 

“We’re still meeting up over summer, right?” Lila asked. 

“Me and Jules should be there late July, Mama promised.” Daisy reassured her. Lila gave her a grateful smile, and Jules twisted to put her head in Daisy’s lap, with her feet in Lila’s lap. Lila smirked and tickled Jules’ feet, shrieking when Jules used her powers to spray her with water from the lake. 

“Round two of the Six Flags trip?” Trip said. 

“As long as I don’t get kidnapped again, we should be good.” Daisy said, carding a hand through Jules’ hair as she did. “That applies to everyone. No more kidnappings okay?” 

“No more kidnappings.” Everyone chorused. 

“What even is our lives? Who the fuck has to agree on that?” Kate said and they laughed, all somewhat tipsy on cider and vodka and tequila. Wanda made great mimosas and Daisy did amazing Black Russians, of course. But her Black Bulls were pretty good too. 

“Here’s to us. May we continue to stay unkidnapped, undead and unbetrayed so long as we live.” Trip called, also pulling Scarlett close. 

“Cheers!”

“Salut!” 

“Овации!” 

“¡Aclamaciones!” 

“God bless us, everyone!” 

“Okay, who called out fucking Christmas Carol?” Davis complained, forcing them all into a laughing fit. 

The sun set on the Legacies, golden rays spreading over the blue of the lake, casting soft shadows on the grass. They left in small groups, until it was Lila, Daisy, Jules and Robbie left. 

“I have the horrible feeling that everything’s going to change again.” Lila said. 

“At least we’ll all be together. We’re all forever, aren’t we?” Daisy said, resting her head on Jules’ shoulder.

”Of course. Someone has to wrangle you to bed.” Robbie said and Daisy gasped in mock shock. 

“You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone!” She accused Lila and Jules, but there was no fire. She was drunk and happy, an easy warm feeling in her stomach that felt horribly like happiness. 

“You love us though.” Lila said. 

“More than anything.” Daisy replied. 


	37. Summer Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the Legacies across the world waking up in the morning during summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A happy chapter for once, actually a little too fluffy I’m sorry I kinda hate this, but hey it’s Christmas so thought I’d be nice 
> 
> Hope you all had an amazing day whatever you celebrate! 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Daisy Skye Natasha Barbara Johnson Morse-Romanoff. Go back to fucking sleep.” Jules grumbled sleepily as Daisy extracted herself from the bed. 

“One, those aren’t my middle names and two, I have to go to training and someone might question why I’m leaving your room later on.” Daisy laughed, grabbing her discarded clothes from the floor. 

This was how they worked. Really hot sex at night, then Daisy would leave before the sun rose. At least when they thought the sun was rising, the Tube was an underground base after all. In any case, Daisy left before the rest of the base stirred. 

“Bed’s cold now.” Jules whined, wrapping the duvet closer around herself.

”Aww honey, I’ll warm it up again tonight. I promised my mom we’d spar before she left though, and she’s leaving at eight.” Daisy said, sliding her jeans on with an elegance that Jules envied. How was Daisy this perfect at...half four in the morning? 

“You better. Oh and we’re going into London with Darcy, Joey and Lincoln later.” Jules told her and Daisy smiled. 

“See you later, Jules. Oh, maybe we can get those gloves in town.” Daisy winked before she left. 

“Fucking Russians.” Jules cursed happily, rolling back over and going back to sleep.   
  


* * *

“Lottie! Breakfast!” Trip called through the open door. Scarlett stumbled through blearily, the early morning sunlight streaming into her eyes. 

“Too early babe.” She said, wrapping her arms around his waist, smiling when he kissed her forehead. 

“Morning to you too. Pancakes?” He asked brightly. How he was this awake she had no idea. 

“No syrup right?” She asked hesitantly, suddenly wide awake. She hadn’t really relapsed for a long time, but she always had to check. 

“No syrup.” He confirmed. “Fruit instead.”

”Have I ever told you how much I love you?” She sighed into his chest. 

“Hmm, think I could hear it again.” He chuckled. 

“I love you, my big idiot.” She grinned, kissing him deeply. 

“Do I need to disinfect the kitchen again? Or can we all eat without catching cooties or something?” A voice interrupted them. 

“Good morning to you too, Sharon. Pancakes?” Trip said, still grinning madly. 

“Coffee. And pack up, we’re going to France.” She told them. 

“Uh, why?” Scarlett asked. “Thought we were heading to Alaska next week?” 

“We are. Your mom said it’s an early birthday present, you two are booked into a hotel in Paris whilst the rest of us have a mission.” Sharon said grumpily. 

“Sucks to be a proper agent, doesn’t it?” Trip said happily. A full week in Paris with the girl he loved. 

This was shaping up to be an amazing summer after all.   
  


* * *

“How is it summer and there’s still snow out there?” Piper complained, looking at the monitors in the Providence base. “Daisy sent me a photo from Hyde Park in London, it’s sunny there. Her and Joey got a tan and everything.” 

“Thought you liked the snow, baby.” Kate said, sliding into Piper’s lap, tilting Piper’s head up to look at her. 

“I grew up in Cali, I’m used to sun.” Piper said, wistfully showing Kate the photo Daisy sent.

”Daisy and Joey may have a tan, but look at Jules and Darcy and Lincoln, they’ve all got sunburn. At least you don’t, although rubbing the aloe vera on your back could be hot.” Kate whispered the last but right in Piper’s ear, making her partner shiver. 

“Well, I’m pretty sure that can be arranged, but maybe coconut butter would be better...” 

“Oh...I like the sound of that.” Kate smiled, kissing Piper deeply and turning the room dark mode just in case Davis or one of the Koenig’s came knocking.   
  


* * *

“Up and at them Barton’s, Maximoffs and Reyes! Feeding time!” Clint shouted up the stairs, grinning at the sound of groaning teenagers. 

“Must he do that every morning?” Robbie grumbled, holding Pietro closer as he tried to get out of bed. “No, mine.” 

“Babe, I love you but I want bacon.” Pietro laughed, kicking the covers off. Robbie swore under his breath and accepted defeat, throwing Pietro his sweatpants. 

“Language, Roberto.” Pietro said. 

“Thought you liked it when I swore?” Robbie smirked at Pietro’s blush. “I’ll save it for the bedroom then.” 

“Ugh, every morning? You two have this conversation every morning, I’m scarred.” Lila said from the doorway, Wanda at her back. 

“You’re just annoyed because the girl you love had an identity crisis and is now friends with benefits with one of your other best friends. Not all of us have disastrous love lives.” Robbie said and Lila tackled him back to the bed. “Watch the face!” 

“Bacon’s going fast!” Cling called and Pietro used his super speed to grab the plate.

“Never mind it’s gone!” He laughed. 


	38. Who You Really Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a year since Daisy got kidnapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooft this chapter is a whole mess of angst then fluff then smut, so can skip that if you want but it’s very small? Literally just Jules boobs that’s it, but you can skip if you want! It’s marked if you want to end before the light smut 
> 
> WARNINGS: panic attacks, past child abuse, past brainwashing, light smut, identity crisis, self hatred
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

It’s too quiet and that’s how Jules knows something is wrong. 

“Have you seen Daisy?” She asks Darcy in one of the labs at the Tube. She hadn’t seen her since breakfast and it was past dinner time. She wouldn’t have been worried but Lila text asking if Jules could check up on Daisy, she had a bad feeling. 

“Training room last I saw her. But that was hours ago.” Darcy told her, lifting her welding mask off her face. “She’s still there?” 

“I was on my way to check there when I stopped to ask you. But I’ll go check.” Jules said, giving Darcy what she hoped was a grateful smile but was probably a grimace. 

Daisy didn’t disappear all that often, at least she hadn’t this summer. If she wanted space she told them, and she’d chill in an SUV or the vents. If something was too much then she wanted big open spaces where she could breathe, she went outside or to the hangar. She didn’t just hide. 

So when Jules walks into the training room and finds the room shaking, a sobbing Daisy with bloody knuckles and a worried Hunter, she knows that Lila was right to be worried. 

“Tell me what you can see Daisy, just five things okay? Five things in this room.” Hunter says softly, surprising Jules. He and Hartley had arrived late July, both on medical leave from a mission in Bristol. She’d always thought he was just a gruff, grumpy agent who cared more about beer than people, but he seemed to have a soft spot for Daisy and got them alcohol if they asked very nicely. 

“T-t-the mats.” Daisy stuttered, shaking with the force of her tears and quakes. Jules stumbled as the floor shook a little harder. 

“Good. Four more, Dais.” Hunter praised. 

“The punch-punching bag.” 

“Uh huh, what else?” 

“Treadmill.” Daisy whispered, but she was breathing a lot easier and the room wasn’t shaking quite as hard. 

“Two more Dais, that’s it.” Hunter praised again, staying crouched beside her. 

“Batons.” 

“You truly are your mother’s daughter. One more thing, Daisy, you can do it.” Hunter laughed softly. 

“Jules.” Daisy said, making eye contact with Jules. Jules moved forward slowly and cautiously. “I’m sorry.”

”Hey no. You’re okay, Daisy, it’s fine.” Hunter chided quietly. Daisy shook her head. 

“I thought I was there. I couldn’t-wasn’t-I wasn’t in control again.” Daisy explained, more tears pricking her eyes. 

“You had a flashback, it happens. No ones going to judge you for that, you literally live with superheroes and agents, we get it.” Hunter told her. “Can I hug you?” 

Daisy nodded sharply and let herself be wrapped into Hunter’s arms. Jules stood back a bit, letting the moment happen. 

“Go on you two, get out of here. I’ll clean up. And don’t forget to wrap your hands, Dais.” He told them when Daisy tapped his shoulder, letting him know that that was enough. 

“Yes, Uncle Hunter.” Daisy rolled her eyes but she shot him a grateful look before standing and crossing to Jules. “My room?”   
  


* * *

“It’s been a year, Jules. I got kidnapped and brainwashed and tortured and trained and forced to kill a year ago.” Daisy said when they got back to Daisy’s bunk. 

“I know, Zee.” Jules said quietly, taking Daisy’s busted hands in her own so she could treat them. “Do you want talk about it?” 

“It’s like...you know when you first go through Terrigenesis? And you have no control of your body at all, and you’re doing this stuff that shouldn’t be possible but you can’t control it? And it’s all messy and it hurts? It feels like that, being brainwashed, I mean.” 

“I get that. When I first woke up, I nearly flooded the hospital. It took me almost two years to get my powers fully under control. Lots of flooded bathrooms.” Jules said, wiping the antiseptic over Daisy’s fists. Daisy barely flinched.

”Yeah, it’s like that but with murder.” Daisy said dejectedly, almost self-deprecating and Jules really didn’t want that. 

“You weren’t to blame. You literally had no control, no one blames you, Dais. You were a victim too.” 

“The people I killed had families, kids, parents, lovers. I took that person from all those people, Jules. How does that make me any better? Even when I wasn’t brainwashed, back in Russia when I was little, I hurt people, _innocent_ people. How does that not make me a monster too?” Daisy said the last part quietly, like a secret. Jules sighed and put the antiseptic back on the bed. 

“You’re not a monster Daisy. You were an abuse victim, a child who was brought up by bad people. But that’s not what you are to me, to everyone else who loves you. You’re funny, talented, sarcastic, really fucking good in bed, loving...Daisy, you are so much more than what they made you.” 

“Really good in bed, huh?” Daisy smirked and Jules hit her in the chest. 

“That’s the part you picked up on?” 

“Yes, obviously. But...thanks, Jules. It’s hard to believe sometimes, that I have people who want me to succeed in things other than killing, that I have people I want to protect. I forget sometimes.” Daisy said, running her hand up Jules’ arm just to feel her shiver. “But I have people to remind me. Now, I’d love a distraction from the panic attack I had earlier and you’re here...” 

“Well, I’m sure that can be arranged.” Jules smirked, tilting her head down to Daisy’s lips. She captured Daisy’s lips with her own, feeling the shorter girl immediately react, deepening the kiss by running her tongue against Jules’ lips for entrance. Jules obliges and they explore each other’s mouths, fighting for dominance which Daisy was always going to win. 

“Can I?” Daisy breaks the kiss and gestures to Jules’ shirt. 

“We clearly haven’t been doing this enough if you have to ask.” Jules said with a raised eyebrow. “Go right ahead.” 

“I just wanted to make sure.” Daisy defended with a pout that quickly changed to a smile as she tugged Jules’ shirt over her head. “I don’t say it a lot, but I think you’re really hot.”   
  


*********************************

“You’re just saying that because you have my nipple in your mouth.” Jules said with no bite, actually moaning at the end as Daisy ran her teeth over her nipple, soothing it with her tongue after. “Which is totally fine.” 

Daisy smirked around her breast, reaching behind Jules’ back to unclip her bra so her breasts were free. Daisy went right back to it, sucking her Jules’ left nipple into her mouth, cupping the other one with her hand. Daisy always paid a lot of attention to her breasts, which was funny because if you asked her, Daisy was an ass girl, but Jules appreciated the attention. 

Daisy didn’t stay there for much longer today though, quickly moving down Jules’ body, running the flat of her tongue along her torso making Jules moan in pleasure. Daisy sucked a couple of hickeys on her torso, Jules didn’t like them to be seen, but she liked to be marked. Jules whined when Daisy removed her mouth from her body but moaned again when Daisy pulled the vampire gloves out of her drawer in her beside cabinet. 

“You’re still wearing too many clothes.” Jules gasped out, as Daisy ran the short rounded spikes over her flesh, groaning deeply when they circled her nipple. The spikes weren’t created to hurt or cut the flesh, just sharp enough for feeling or light scratching. Jules loved them unashamedly. 

“This isn’t about me.” Daisy whispered, right against Jules’ neck, where she then started kissing. 

“Thought you wanted a distraction.” 

“Oh honey, you are the distraction.” And that’s when Jules knew that the more dominant side of Daisy was coming out. Daisy only called her “honey” in bed, a pre-approved name from Jules that let them both know they were on the same page. 

“Oh...okay.” Jules said detachedly, already floating into that nice, floaty place she went when Daisy decided to pay complete attention to her in bed. 

“Am I okay to do this tonight? You want it? We can stop if you don’t.” Daisy said before she pulled Jules’ pants off and they went the whole way. She always checked before, it was another thing that Jules appreciated. 

“Yes, yes, please Daisy.” Jules said emphatically, rolling her hips to show just how much she was into this. 

“Okay, honey.” Daisy smiled, the tension and stress from earlier falling away as she removed Jules’ pants and underwear and for the rest of her night, that was her world. Just the small bunk in the Tube, with a girl she counted as one of her best friends that she also has really good sex with, and getting Jules off. 

And if Jules could barely walk the next day, then the ten? Maybe eleven, orgasms she had the night before were worth the sore legs. 

Thank god for the Inhuman libido. 


	39. The Hub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to school and there’s some revelations later on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, as you will find out, some people are not as straight as they seemed. And that can happen! Sexuality is a fluid spectrum, people can change as they grow, so don’t be mad? Idk some people will like this, some won’t 
> 
> WARNINGS: references to homophobia 
> 
> Oh and sorry I didn’t upload yesterday, but yall did get a massive Nat and Daisy fic instead so go check that out if you want! 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Back again.” Lila sighed as they entered the third year dorms, nicknamed the Hub as it was mainly just clumps of rooms, mixed with kitchens and common rooms and a library. 

“It’s sad that you’re that tired at age seventeen.” Daisy said, dragging both bags up the stairs because as the boys described her and just like her mama, she was freakishly strong. (She didn’t know if HYDRA actually pumped something into her to make her that way or if it’s just years of training, Auntie Jemma said something about minimal traces of super serum in her blood but she wasn’t too sure.) 

“Not all of us can survive on three hours sleep and Red Bull.” Lila said, taking her duffle from Daisy. “And not all of us got to fly the jet here.” 

“You lost the coin toss. Respect the laws of nature.” Daisy threw over her shoulder. 

“You go against nature, Zee.” Lila sighed again, shouldering her duffle and heading along the corridor. Her and Daisy’s rooms are next door to each other. 513 and 514. 

“I know. Why do you think I’m so cool?” Daisy quips behind her. 

“Whatever you say, babe.” Lila says, unlocking her door. She got here ahead of Piper but Darcy is already in Daisy’s room. “See you at dinner.” 

“Bye butterfly.” Daisy says, entering her new dorm. “Sup, Lewis.” 

“Ah my favourite assassin. Wassup’ buttercup?” Darcy smiles as Daisy walks in. She’s already set up their monitors on the twin desks against the wall, the single beds against each wall. They had lofted beds this year, with dressers and little bookshelves underneath. 

“Not much. Got to fly the jet here which was cool. How was New Mexico?” Darcy interned with Dr Jane Foster whilst Daisy and Jules went to visit Lila and the others at the farm. 

“Thor stopped by one day so that was pretty cool. Janey’s working on time travel at the minute. But I was mainly with the engineers working on the mechanics of the machine.” Darcy told her, throwing shirts and pants in wherever she could find them. She’d only really started talking to Daisy when they started coding together. She was Sci-Tech and had mainly hung out with the scientist kids the last two years, but a lot of them turned out to be spies for other agencies, so she was adopted by the Legacies. 

“Sounds cool. You mind if I leave my knives around in here?” Daisy said, pulling out her roll she kept her throwing knives in. She preferred to keep them on a rack but if Darcy was uncomfortable with it, she’d keep them away. 

“Go for it. I keep a taser on me at all times so I’m cool with whatever weird shit you wanna keep about. I did live with you for two months after all.” 

“And what a fun two months those were.” Daisy teased.

”Oh yeah, you and Jules going at it next door, hmm, _delightful_ Morse.” 

“We weren't that bad!” Daisy defended, throwing a pillow at Darcy. 

“You really were,” Darcy said, “but I forgive you, now do you wanna build a computer?” 

“Obviously. I have three hours then I need to go train before dinner.” Daisy replied, sitting next to Darcy on the floor in front of a very broken motherboard. 

“Oh god, I almost forgot you’re part gym robot.” 

“How could you forget that? It’s like part of my personality at this point, along with depression, anxiety, ADHD, trauma and Russian, just for funzies.” 

“You did not just use “funzies” in this day and age Romanoff, jeez.”   
  


* * *

“Will the tapestry fit there?” Wanda asked as Jules measured the area of wall above their desks. 

“It’ll need to go on the ceiling.” Jules answered, the rest of the walls already taken up by their yoga and zodiac and strange collection of One Direction, Arctic Monkeys and Billy Joel posters. Wanda’s Sokovia flag also took up a lot of room, as did Jules’ lesbian flag. 

“No worries.” Wanda said as she used her powers to float the pink and purple tapestry up to ceiling, holding it there whilst Jules climbed the ladder to put the pins in. 

“See, you got cool powers. I can just make things wet.” Jules said when she came down. 

“Daisy included.” Wanda got a slight shove for that. “Your powers are just as special as mine or Pietro’s or Joey’s. Never doubt your own power, Jules.” 

“Wanna go check out the library?” Jules asked, taking the focus away from herself. Nearly all of them had traumatic backgrounds with their powers but though they were aware, no one liked talking about it. 

“I expect we’ll be spending a lot of time there, so yes.” Wanda smiled and linked her arm with Jules’ as they went down the hall, laughing when they heard electronic explosions from Daisy and Darcy’s room. 

“It’s a wonder they haven’t set anything on fire yet-“ And of course Jules got cut off with the fire alarm. 

* * *

“Oh god, baby why are you crying? Why are you all crying?” Piper said as they walked into Kate and Scarlett’s bunk, also noting that Daisy, Lila, Darcy and Robbie were also here. And all of them were sobbing at the projected screen on the wall. 

“We watched Bambi. And Up.” Kate explained through tears, holding her arms out to her partner. Piper walked over and accepted Kate’s hug, sitting in her lap. 

“Why on earth would you do that to yourselves?” 

“I hadn’t seen them.” Daisy piped up. “Somehow, we missed these.” 

“The rest of us are just emotional bitches.” Darcy said. 

“I got something in my eye.” Robbie tried to defend. Piper looked at him incredulously but he wasn’t backing down, so they started singing(very off key) the opening credits to Up. His eyes immediately started watering and Daisy tackled him when he tried to wipe his eyes. 

“No! Suffer like the rest of us!” She shouted, holding his wrists to the bed and he tried to squirm away but then she sat on his chest. So his literally picked her up, (because Daisy weighed like, 100 pounds max) and tipped her onto the bed, but she clung to him like a monkey. So Lila jumped on his back and held on tight and he ran out the door with her on the two of them on both sides. 

“That seemed excessive.” Scarlett commented when the shrieking of Lila and Robbie died down, (Daisy did not shriek, she was an assassin, thank you). 

“You get used to it. Actually, you should be used to it, you lived with them all year.” Piper said, leaning back into Kate’s arms, smiling when Kate’s arms slid around their waist and her head rested atop their own. 

“Wanna watch She-Ra?” Darcy asked. 

“What do you take us for? Straight girls?” Kate laughed and Piper felt it reverberate through their own chest, a nice comforting rumble. They felt safe there, in this room with their girlfriend and best friends, arguing about movies and tv shows. The feeling wouldn’t last, but right now? It was all they wanted. 

“Hey!” Scarlett laughed. “Nah, you’re right. The gays are much better.” 

“Is that a confession, Lottie darling?” Piper teased but Scarlett went a bit quiet. “It’s totally okay if it is. You’d be totally supported and Trip wouldn’t care or anything.” 

“My parents would.” Scarlett whispered and suddenly this was all very serious. 

“Lottie?” Kate asked hesitantly, pausing the episode they’d put on. 

“I didn’t realise till this summer. We were in Paris and there was this really pretty waitress that served us, and I kinda just realised, yknow? I talked to Trip about it and he said he was totally supportive and whatever, but my mom and dad...they were brought up in the South, they’re really against it. I’m just scared of that.” She explained. Darcy sighed and moved over to hug her. 

“If they love you, they’ll learn to look past it and if they can’t, then maybe they aren’t always worth having in your life. You’ve always got us and Trip and the rest of our dumb friends. You’ll always be safe with us.” Piper promised and the other girls nodded. 

“Thanks guys. That...that means a lot. I’m bisexual by the way, if we’re putting a label on it.” Scarlett said. 

“We got another one!” Kate said excitedly. “We’ll get you a flag.” 

“Welcome to the club, your toaster oven will be in the mail soon.” Darcy said, then narrowed her eyes when no one reacted. “Yall haven’t seen the “Puppy Episode” of that early Ellen show? What kind of lesbians are you?” 

“That’s kind of before our time.” Kate defended. 

“You’ve seen the L Word though, right?” Darcy asked. 

“Uh, nope.” Piper said, suddenly rather afraid of the tiny ball of taser fire that was Darcy Lewis. “But we can watch it now?” 

“We better. Yall have 6 seasons to watch and then there’s Generation Q.” Darcy said, already loading up the show. “Are you ready for the lesbianism?” 

“Speaking of lesbians, we’re back and we brought a Maximoff.” Daisy announced from the door, Lila and Wanda behind her. 

“Where’s Jules?” Piper asked as the girls sat down. “And I thought you were bi?” 

“She’s playing D and D with Joey, Pietro and Davis. They have a tournament against the Sci-Tech kids or something.” Wanda explained. 

“And I’m kind of over saying I’m bisexual. Guys I’m coming out again, I’m a lesbian. Surprise!” Daisy laughed, flipping a knife around from where she was lying against Lila. 

“Only took you four years.” Piper groaned, as everyone burst into sarcastic applause. 

“Thank you for the support. Oh and welcome to the Gay Alliance, Lottie, I can give you my flag.” Daisy said when the applause died down. 

“Can we watch this now?” Darcy complained from the other side of the room. She was just as impatient as Daisy, which was how they set the fire alarm off in the first place. Two ADHD kids, in the one room, trying to do a project together? Recipe for disaster. 

“Shove it on, Darce.” Kate said and they settled down to watch the L Word. 

Another year, another set of dorms, what would happen this year? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: I’m aware that Ellen has been cancelled (as she should) but that episode was one of the first things I ever saw that was supportive of lesbians (I was like five it was 2009 okay) so that’s the only reason it’s in here if anyone takes offence or anything idk x


	40. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An announcement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry there’s so many Daisy chapters but this also has Lincoln and Joey? Idk I just really like writing Daisy okay she’s my fave I love her 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“We really had to do this here? Not yknow, in the common room or something where we don’t have to be piled on top of each other?” Piper complained as all fourteen of the Legacies crowded into a single booth in JetFuel. 

“If we’re all in the Sordid Love Affair Booth then it has to be something romantic.” Daisy said, even though she was literally sitting on the wood at the top of the booth, looking down on top of them. 

“Who named it that?” Trip asked. 

“Zee did. Since all her romantic drama happened here.” Kate supplied. 

“And I know that Lincoln and Joey had their first date here. Trip and Lottie had their anniversary coffee here before going to Trombellini’s in town. Kate and Piper got together here. It’s not just my relationships that started or ended here.” Daisy defended the title. 

“Well, anyway, why are we here?” Piper continued, turning to Lincoln and Joey, who were the reason they were here. 

“Okay, so don’t freak out, but uh, we’re engaged?” Lincoln told them. 

There was complete silence for a minute as everyone digested that information. They all stared at the two boys, who shifted uncomfortably as they waited for a response. 

“Took you long enough.” Lila said eventually, the other kids mumbling their agreements. 

“Wait, what?” Joey exclaimed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“You’ve been dating for three years and you’re basically attached at the hip. We all know that Lincoln’s going to John Hopkins University next year to get his degree, and Joey’s going to take the exchange program that some of us are taking next year to go finish Academy in England. Why wouldn’t you do it now?” Jules told them. The boys looked at them all in shock but the rest of the kids just nodded. 

“Thought it would have been a bigger deal.” Lincoln grumbled. Kate hit him in the shoulder. 

“Of course it’s a big deal you idiot. I suspect Lila’s already planning the party, Daisy’s already planned the alcohol list for said party and later wedding, and Trip and Davis are arguing over who’s going to be your best man. We’re happy for you guys, really.” She said, drawing Lincoln into a hug as Lila did the same to Joey on the other side. 

“Can I really do the drink list?” Daisy piped up from the other side, once all congrats had been given. 

“No. It’ll just be alcohol.” Lila said. 

“But it’s a wedding!” 

“And not everyone is Russian.” Jules added in. 

“No fair.” Daisy whined. The table laughed and then all talk turned to wedding plans and the exchange program and the future. 

When everyone had eventually finished their coffees and headed off to train or study or whatever, Lincoln turned to Joey. 

“We’re really doing this, huh?” He said. Joey smiled and leaned in to kiss his boyfriend. 

“Promise.” 

* * *

“Weird how our friends are engaged.” Jules said when her and Daisy were in bed later. 

“Yeah. I mean they’re older than me, but it’s still weird yknow? Engaged at 18.” Daisy agreed. 

“You want that one day? Marriage and whatever?” 

“Yeah. Someday. You?” Daisy asked. 

“I don’t know. I just always seemed like such as weird concept. Staying with one person forever. Holy matrimony always terrified me. Maybe it was because where I grew up, we were always surrounded by people. I’m pretty sure there was more than one poly relationship and at least some of the kids were cousins, but maybe that’s why it seems so weird to me.” Jules answered. She knew her and Daisy wouldn’t last forever, she knew that going in and she was okay with that. It was just fun between friends and she was good with that. 

“That makes sense. I definitely don’t want it any time soon, I’ve got shit to do first yknow?” 

“And that would be?” 

“Dismantle the patriarchy. Eat the rich. Arson. The list goes on.” Daisy said. 

“You’re ridiculous.” 

“You love it.” Daisy laughed. “Shit, I gotta go.”

“Where?” 

“Me and Darcy have to build a new Minecraft world. We’re coding it from scratch to test the new computer we built last week.” Daisy said, grabbing her clothes from the floor. 

“So what you mean by that is you and Darcy are going on a 48-hour caffeine and ADHD meds binge?” Jules said, sitting up in bed. Daisy sent a small quake her way to mess her hair. 

“You know me so well. K, bye darling, see you on Monday.” 

“Oh please, Darcy will text me or Lila begging for food in about five hours. I’ll see you then.” Jules laughed as Daisy gave her the finger as she left. 

This wouldn’t last forever. It probably wouldn’t even last the year, but right now, it was fun and flirty and made her feel like everything would be okay. That was enough. She was enough for someone. 

It was okay. 


	41. Setbacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t supposed to happen but it did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that summary makes it sound like something romantic when it’s just angst i’m sorry 
> 
> this chapter is a mix of fluffy and sad and angsty im sorry however there is kate and piper 
> 
> WARNINGS: self harm, homophobia, identity issues, transphobia
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

It wasn’t supposed to happen. It _shouldn’t_ have happened. But it did. 

“Pipes? You ready to go?” Kate called through the bathroom door. Shit. They were supposed to go to the festival. They had costumes picked out. 

Short-sleeve costumes because they were lesbians and it was culture to go as Piper and Alex from Orange is the New Black. 

“Just a minute, babe.” Piper called back, desperately trying to bandage the fresh wounds. Relapses suck and it had been over a year since their last one. 

A call from their mom had triggered it. Their uncle had died, natural causes. Piper wasn’t exactly close with Uncle Herman but they were close with his son, Graham. But their mom had said that they weren’t supposed to go to the funeral. 

No one wants to be embarrassed by a freak. 

Their mom was ashamed. _Disgusted_ by them for what they chose to be, the person they were. Something broke in Piper during that phone call and an hour later, they were hunched over the sink, deep lines in their arm again. And Kate was right outside the door. 

“You okay?” Kate asked and god they wanted to say no. But of course, the only words they could form were: 

“I’m fine.” An outright lie that cuts right to the bone. Outside the door, Kate can tell they’re lying and it hurts, Piper hasn’t lied to her before. 

“What’s going on, Pipes?” She asks. 

“Nothing, I’m fine. Go catch up with Lila, I’ll meet you down there.” Piper says, a little too desperately and that’s why Kate opens the door. 

Piper should have locked it. Fuck, they always lock the door and now Kate can see exactly how broken they are. 

“Pipes...” Kate starts. “Let me help you.” 

“What?” Piper asks incredulously. Why wasn’t Kate mad? Why wasn’t she disgusted, like their mom, their dad, their family? Why wasn’t Kate shouting and screaming and hurling curses? “Why aren’t you angry?” 

“Why would I be angry?” 

“I don’t know, maybe the relapse?” Piper asks, a little breathless now. “I’m broken, Kate, why aren’t you angry?” 

“Do you want me to be angry?” Kate asks back. Her fingers are gentle against Piper’s skin and just like that, the tension soothes in the small bathroom. 

“No.” Piper starts to cry. They never cry, but fuck, Kate is being so good right now. Better than they deserve, Kate is too good for them. They will ruin Kate, ruin the whole relationship, just like their parents. 

“Hey, hey. You’re okay, baby.” Kate soothes, bringing them down to the floor, rubbing circles into Piper’s back. She gathers Piper’s bloody arms into her own and starts bandaging them a lot neater than Piper did. 

“I really don’t think I am, Katie.” Piper whispers, head against Kate’s shoulder. 

“Then we’ll get you help. You’re not alone, Pipes.” Kate says, kissing the bandages on Piper’s arms once she’s done. “There. All better.” 

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” Piper laughs softly. 

“I kissed it better. Don’t argue with the science of kisses.” 

“I will never argue with kissing a pretty girl.” Piper returned, drawing Kate into a soft kiss. “I just don’t think you can kiss this better.” 

“Maybe not, but it might help. Pipes, you could have came to me.” Kate says, bringing Piper’s head into her lap and running her fingers slowly through Piper’s short locks. “I want to help you with this, but I can’t if you don’t tell me.” 

“It just kinda happened. I didn’t even realise I was doing it until it was done.” Piper said, finding a discarded fidget toy on the floor and playing with the cube. 

“Were you going to hide it from me?” The hurt in Kate’s voice broke Piper’s heart. Kate would have been more hurt by Piper hiding from her rather than the self-harm itself. 

“I didn’t want you to see me like that.” Piper said softly, focusing on anything but the hurt on Kate’s face. 

“Like what? A person? Piper, I love you, I’m not gonna stop loving you because you had a relapse. Do you stop loving Daisy because she had a panic attack or her anorexia kicked her ass? Do you stop loving Scarlett? Did you stop liking Darcy when you found out she had ADHD?” 

“Of course not!” 

“Then why would you think that about yourself?” Kate said, tilting Piper’s chin up to look them in the eyes. “I love you, Pipes. This doesn’t change that.” 

“I love you too, Katie-Kat.” Their lips met and for the first time since the phone call, everything felt right in the world. Okay, their parents hated them, their arms burned a little when Kate shifted to pull them up so they could kiss a little easier and they’d had to leave the bathroom eventually, but the world had shifted to that perfect place. 

“Hey lovebirds! Yall coming?” Darcy shouted from behind the door, startling the couple out of their kiss. Kate’s hair was all messy from where Piper had run their hands through it and Piper had Kate’s lipstick smeared across their lips. 

“Just a minute, Darce! Actually go ahead, we’ll meet you down there!” Kate called back and Darcy muttered about “useless lesbians” whilst leaving. 

“We can talk about this later okay?” Kate promised and Piper nodded, still trying to catch their breath. 

“You’re perfect, you know that?” They told Kate, who blushed. 

“Cmon, we’ve got a bunch of impatient gays waiting for us downstairs.” Kate said, fixing her hair and handing Piper a wipe for the lipstick. “You look good with my lipstick all over you.” 

“Are you flirting with me, Katherine?” Piper teased and Kate shoved them. 

“Of course I am, _Persephone_. As Darcy said, I’m a useless lesbian and you’re hot.” 

“Ugh, let’s legally change our names next year. Our parents suck.” Piper groaned though it held a lot of truth behind it. 

“I second that. Cmon, there’s hot apple cider and hay rides and I wanna see who Daisy ended up doing a couple costume with.” 

“Ah yes, the drama of the century, Lila or Jules?” Piper laughed and they kissed again before leaving the sanctuary of the bathroom. 

Daisy had ended up wrangling Lila and Jules and Robbie and Pietro into her plan instead and they were met with the Scooby gang. Davis stood impatiently beside them in his Green Goblin whilst Trip and Scarlett had Sailor Moon costumes. Lincoln and Joey had gone as John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson from the end of Pulp Fiction and Darcy and Wanda had teamed up to go as Johnny and Baby from Dirty Dancing. 

Piper quirked an eyebrow at Trip and Scarlett’s incredibly accurate Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune costumes. “Weren't they cousins? 

“Nope. They were a gay couple actually. I will not be taking no for an answer okay.” Trip defended immediately, straightening his skirt. 

“Hey, I’m not gonna argue with that.” Piper laughed. 

“Shall we go then, my fellow guys, gals and non-binary pals? Or anything in between? Whatever you identify as? Come as you are? Bruh, I miss Nirvana.” Darcy tailed off as Daisy started singing Smells Like Teen Spirit. They ran ahead, screaming the lyrics as the group entered the festival in the square, the smell of woodsmoke and bonfires and apples hitting them immediately. 

“You okay, baby?” Kate whispered in their ear as the group separated, promising to meet up at the clock tower for the costume contest later. They watched Lila steer Daisy and Darcy away from the massive crowds as Daisy’s face went a bit panicky. 

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Come on, I want a bear and you have an advantage with archery.” 


	42. Safe Houses and Secret Santa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legacies spend Christmas at a safe house on the Isle of Skye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg this chapter is so late i’m sorry 
> 
> it’s long tho and fluffy to make up for it? because shit gets fucked up tomorrow? sorry in advance? 
> 
> have christmas fluff tho! 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“Fellow members of the Kinsey Scale! I come baring great news!” Daisy shouted as she ran into the common room where the rest of the Legacies were gathered. 

“Who let her watch A Christmas Carol?” Robbie groaned at Daisy’s Edwardian accent and intonation. 

“No one. Her, Darce and Wanda got stuck watching old English commercials and tv shows when the Wi-Fi broke over Thanksgiving.” Lila explained, having stayed with Daisy, Darcy and the twins over Thanksgiving at the Playground. 

“How does Wi-Fi for an entire base break?” Davis asked. “Isn’t it like, hydro-power or something?” 

“Solar actually. But Wi-Fi isn’t powered by electricity, it’s like, connections and shit.” Trip tried to explain but he wasn’t exactly a scientist. 

“Anyway, it broke and all we had was Disney or old English shit that Hunter and Fitzsimmons brought, so we thought we’d broaden our horizons a little.” Daisy said. 

“‘Broadening your horizons’. Says the girl who speaks 28 languages and has visited more countries than the entire group.” Kate laughed. 

“38 if you include programming languages.” Daisy said with an eyebrow raise. 

“If you’re going by that logic, Darcy speaks 12.” Jules piped up. 

“We’ve gotten off topic.” Lila called time out before it devolved into an argument on linguistics that her, Daisy and Wanda would win. “What did you wanna tell us Zee?” 

“Oh right. We’re all going to Scotland for Christmas. My mom’s have a mission in Edinburgh and they agreed to let us stay in the safe house up in Skye, as long as we keep it clean and walk Maureen’s dogs every day. So, yall wanna come to Scotland?” She said. 

“Ooh, can’t. Promised my grandma I’d come home for the holiday.” Scarlett apologised, genuinely sad she was gonna miss the holiday with her friends, and was instead spending it with her stuffy family who were too uptight and conservative. 

“I’m going with Lottie. Apparently, they ‘requested to meet me’.” Trip added. “But we could stop by for New Years?” 

“Trust me, a week with my family and we’ll be begging to come see you.” Scarlett laughed. 

“Cool, everyone else?” Daisy asked the others. 

“We’ll be there.” Kate said for her and Piper. 

“And us, obviously.” Wanda said for Pietro, who nodded at Robbie too. 

“I have to go home. My dad has to talk to me about my grandpa’s will apparently.” Davis said. 

“We can’t go, promised my sister I’d let my family meet my fiancé.” Lincoln apologised, but he didn’t look sorry about it in the slightest. “She’s mad that I’m gay and got engaged before her.” 

“I’ll be there, Zee.” Jules said. 

“Me too.” Darcy added. “My mom’s new boyfriend is coming for Christmas anyway and bringing his girlfriend.” 

“Wait, your mom’s boyfriend has a girlfriend?” Jules interjected her. Darcy shrugged. 

“My family’s weird.” She said. 

“I’ll come too.” Lila said after everyone took a moment to process Darcy’s information. “Wouldn’t be Christmas without a Barton/Morse-Romanoff get together would it?” 

“‘Course not, butterfly.” Daisy said happily. 

* * *

“Lila!” Daisy whispered into Lila’s ear. 

“Five more minutes.” Lila groaned, trying to push Daisy’s face away. She was comfy and it was still dark she was pretty sure and it was Christmas day. She wanted sleep. 

But of course, Daisy worked on fucking Russian time or possibly Australian time, she was always up at weird hours, so she wouldn’t leave her alone. 

“C’mon butterfly! I wanna go get ice cream!” Daisy persisted. 

“It is -7 degrees! Go away Daisy!” Lila complained, but she was awake now. “Where the fuck are you gonna get ice cream at this time? What time is it anyway?” 

“4:30.” Daisy replied like that was normal. Lila groaned and rolled over to escape her best friend but Daisy wasn’t Ops for nothing. She rolled with Lila and ended up on top of her, digging her heels into Lila’s sides. “Please?” 

“You really think ‘please’ is going to work, Zee?” 

“ _Please_ , Lila, I’ll love you forever.” Daisy whined, even using the puppy eyes. 

“You already do, you idiot. If you get me hot chocolate later and promise to run me one of your Russian baths later, I’ll go.” Lila bargained. Daisy ran amazing hot baths, with the proper Himalayan bath salts and cinnamon scented bubble bath. No matter where they were, Daisy managed to find the stuff to do it. 

“Fine. Now come on, I’ll get the snow off the bike.” Daisy smiled, grabbing the comforter so Lila would be forced to get out of bed. She shivered in the cold December air of Skye, she could practically feel the snow outside. The things she did for this girl, honestly. 

Twenty minutes later they were on a borrowed motorbike from Maureen’s adult son, Daisy driving obviously. HYDRA had implanted multiple driving techniques in multiple vechikes whilst playing around with her brain, when she worked through all the horrible memories in her head she found a bunch of new skill sets. Suddenly, she could speak Urdu and do karate and jujitsu, she could drive a motorbike, moped, manual cars as well as automatic and for some reason, as tested at the Barton farm, tractors. It was a weird mess in her head. 

“So tell me again where the hell you found ice cream at 5 in the morning, in December, in Scotland?” Lila called over the rushing wind, holding a little tighter to Daisy’s waist as they rounded a corner. 

“There’s a shop on the beach that opens super early for early morning tourists. My mom sent me the location cos she knows my weird sleep schedule.” Daisy shouted back, grinning madly. She honestly lived riding, motorbikes or horses, it was all the same. She loved the feeling of the wind in her hair, the control she got over her own life when she controls the speed. Its addicting. 

“And what? You woke up with the craving for ice cream and decided to drag your long suffering best friend with you?” Lila said as they pulled into the sleepy town. The house was on the outskirts so it was a bit of a drive. 

“You know me too well. And I haven’t really seen you for ages, so I thought it was time we did something.” Daisy said, a little sheepishly, Lila rolled her eyes. 

“We sleep next door to each other. We literally have conversations through morse code through the walls. I see you every day for dinner-“ 

“Alright, so maybe we do see a lot of each other. But we haven’t seen each other on a singular basis lately.” Daisy amended, pulling into park. 

“Hey, Dais? Can I ask you something?” Lila asked cautiously as she got off the bike and pulled off her helmet. 

“Yeah, what’s up butterfly?” Daisy asked, not quite catching the nervous tone in Lila’s voice. 

“Did you...did you work out the mess in your head?” Daisy stops short. Lila winces and opens her mouth to apologise but Daisy smiled slightly and she stops. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever really work it out. There’s too much bad shit up there and it didn’t just go away. I think I just got better at dealing with it. But I think we still needed the time, butterfly, time to grow up a little bit you know? And it wasn’t just because I wanted to bone Jules okay, that sorta just happened, but I think I’m a bit better now.” 

“That’s good, Zee, that’s really good. And you were right in the end, we did, maybe we still do, need time.” Lila smiled, happy to finally get that off her chest. Daisy smiled a bit brighter and grabbed her hand, racing down the street to a tiny shop at the end. 

* * *

They were all gathered round the tree hours later, laughing at the awful Christmas music they had to choose from, mainly Michael Bublé and Cliff Richard. 

“Can we do Secret Santa now?” Darcy whined. 

“Yeah, c’mon, let’s do it.” Daisy agreed, moving to under the tree to hand out the presents they had under the tree. “Pipes? This one’s yours.” 

Piper took their present and turned it all directions. “This is from Davis.” 

“How do you know?” Kate laughed. 

“He’s been using the same wrapping paper since we were seven.” Piper rolled their eyes but opened it all the same, revealing a Furiosa from Mad Max shirt. “He also asked for my size.” 

Everyone laughed as Daisy handed Kate the next present. Kate ripped open the wrapping paper and held up a new quiver for her arrows. 

“Lila.” She guessed. 

“Why do we play this game when we’re all fucking spies?” Lila grumbled, which gave Kate her answer. “Is it the right one?” 

“It’s great, Lil, I love it.” Kate promised. 

“K, Sonic, yours is next.” Daisy announced, handing the blonde a Powerpuff-patterned wrapped gift, which turned out to be Sokovian whisky and a blanket. 

“Guys...” He actually started to tear up, so Robbie wrapped his arms around him. “Who did this?” It was really hard to source stuff from Sokovia because there was always some civil war going on. 

“Oh, that would be me.” Jules said quietly. Pietro launched from Robbie’s arms and wrapped Jules in a tight hug. 

“Thank you.” He said tearfully. 

“Our dad used to drink that. It was the only one he would drink and he let Pietro try it one Christmas.” Wanda explained, also looking slightly teary at this tiny reminder of their childhood. 

“Okay, before we all get too emotional, this one’s yours, butterfly.” Daisy said, handing Lila a neatly wrapped, but large box. Lila took the paper off incredibly carefully, revealing a pair of rock climbing shoes and a harness. 

“Daisy, you could have hid it a little better.” She said exasperatedly, but she was smiling like mad. Her and Daisy had been talking about climbing Bridalveil Fall in Yosemite Valley for years, they were gonna do it when they graduated before going into Big SHIELD. Daisy shrugged nonchalantly but ten minutes later, Lila received an attachment of Daisy’s matching harness, her’s purple and Lila’s green. 

“Jules, this one’s for you.” Daisy said once Lila had finished with hers. 

“Scarlett got me, she told me before she went away.” Jules said as she took the gift. “I’ll wait till they get here.” 

“Okay, then Wanda, this one’s yours.” 

“I had Trip, I’ll wait too.” Wanda decided. 

“Then Robbie, please open yours, for fucks sake.” Daisy complained, handing Robbie his gift. 

“Wow, wonder what it could be?” Robbie said sarcastically to Wanda, who blushed scarlet. Robbie pulled out a pair of leather gloves, a bottle of his favourite vodka, (much weaker than Daisy’s, which she’d opened from Tony, and Hunter, respectively. Daisy was easy to buy for.) and a fire extinguisher. “Really?” 

“I thought it was funny.” Wanda giggled. 

“Oh my god, that’s amazing.” Daisy’s eyes glinted with mischief as she made eye contact with Kate, who shared the same look. Robbie made sure to hide said extinguisher after that. 

“Just you left, Zee?” Lila asked. Daisy nodded and pulled out her gift. 

“Robbie?” She asked even before opening it. Robbie gave her the finger and she laughed. “I’m a spy, what were you expecting?” 

“We’re not doing this next year, I don’t think anyone will survive.” Lila sighed. Daisy grinned and slid her knife (it was Christmas, not Hell freezing over, of course she still had a knife) along the tape to make sure she didn’t rip the paper. She was still incredibly careful with stuff like this, still expected it to be taken away or having to fight for it. It was just one of those innate things she’d never be able to kick. 

“Robbie, darling, you know me so well.” Daisy laughed as she pulled a large bottle of her favourite vodka, made in Serbia, at a whopping 88% alcohol content, and her own leather gloves, these were fingerless though and had tiny spikes on the knuckles. 

“Course I do, Dais, you’re an true Russian. Happy with snow, vodka and a weapon.” Robbie said back. 

“That’s stereotypical.” Lila commented from the couch and Robbie stuck his tongue out at her. 

“Darce? Yours is last.” Daisy said, giving Darcy the last present under the tree apart from the ones for and from their missing friends. 

“I had Lincoln, and somehow, he got me too.” Darcy said, tearing the wrapping off a small electrical engineering kit and yet another fire extinguisher. “I think there’s a theme here.” 

“Yeah, the theme is you and Daisy keep setting fires and Robbie’s got a demon in his head that makes his head all...flamey.” Jules laughed. 

“Anyone wanna go spar?” Daisy asked when the laughter had died down and people started doing their own stuff. 

“Wouldn’t be Christmas without a sparring session with my favourite earthquake.” Kate sighed, pulling herself off the couch to follow Daisy into the garage to go spar, Piper and Robbie following. 

“I’ll help Lila in the kitchen.” Wanda announced, heading off to peel potatoes and carrots, Pietro at her heels. The twins and Lila always made a good time in the kitchen. 

“I’ll get the extra chairs from the attic.” Robbie said, Darcy and Jules following him up the stairs. 

Snow fell outside, the temperature dropping again but they just boosted the heat or wrapped up in blankets, not caring about the world outside just this once. 

And of course, they all pretended to be completely oblivious to Daisy, Robbie and the twins coming back in the house at three in the morning the next night, feigning complete surprise at the report on the burglars caught by a mysterious group on the news. 


	43. Seeing Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HYDRA attacks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no i’m sorry 
> 
> WARNINGS: violence, character deaths 
> 
> -bex xx

All of the third years were gathered in the assembly hall when the alarms started sounding. It was early April and they were being briefed on the exchange program next year, upcoming exams, the usual. It was all going fine until the alarms started blaring. 

“Is that the invasion alarms?” Jules wondered aloud, her friends nodding. The kids around them began to panic. 

“Are we under attack?” 

“Aliens again? Like New York?” 

“Does anyone know what’s going on?” 

“Who the fuck is that?” 

A man in a black tac suit had stepped up on the stage, an evil smirk on his face that set Daisy’s nerves alight. She knew that face and that smirk all too well. 

“Good evening children.” His voice was Russian and his smirk only deepened as he looked over the scared third years. “Now, we won’t have too much of a problem if you help me out here. We’re looking for one of your fellow classmates, she’s managed to escape us for nearly two years, however she did forget that she is HYDRA’s property and we will take what we want. So, if anyone knows where Quake is, please bring her forward.” 

In the time that the Superior had started his little speech however, Daisy had already slipped to the back of the hall and out the door to the hallway behind the stage. The Superior was too busy on his ego trip to even notice that she was right behind him, but the kids noticed. They stared with wide eyes as she crept behind him, knife drawn. 

“Not today you fucking psychopath. I’m not going back to your fucking soldier.” She whispered in his ear and he turned with that maniacal glint in his eye that haunted her nightmares. 

“Ah, Quake, how good of you to bring yourself to us! It’s still funny how you think you have an option in any of this. This entire place is being infiltrated by HYDRA soldiers and we will destroy the next generation of SHIELD, you won’t get away this time.” He said, and she let him ramble for a while. 

Then she slit his throat. 

A few screams rang out in the audience of her classmates. Fear danced through the Superior’s eyes before it died out to nothing. He fell backwards, his blood spurting out his neck and spraying all over the stage. She wiped it off her face and pretended like she didn’t feel like a psychopath. 

“You heard him.” She turned back to her shocked classmates. “The Academy is under attack and we have to stop them.” 

“Sci-Tech kids listen up!” Lila shouted from the other end of the hall, recovering a lot faster than anyone. “You’re going to protect the first years. I want all of you to go to the dining room where all the firsts should be and barricade the doors using whatever voodoo science shit you can find to arm yourselves.” 

All the as Sci-Tech kids nodded in agreement at Lila and headed out the fire exit doors at the back, but the Sci-Tech kids in the Legacies all stayed behind. 

“Okay! Kids in Comms! We’re gonna split in half and head to the weaponry and server room.” Lila called out to the Comms kids. “Ops kids! Team up with second and fourth years and get as many of the HYDRA rats as you can!” 

It all moved quickly after that. Comms split in half and met up with the rest of the Academy Comms kids, following Lila’s plan exactly. The kids in the server and battle plan rooms would contact Big SHIELD to request help and evacuation and force lockdown to keep as Sci-Tech safer, the kids in the weaponry would distribute and arm the Ops kids as well as themselves. 

“Lila...what if I give myself to them in exchange for leaving everyone else alone. They want me more than anyone else.” Daisy asked hurriedly as they left the assembly hall. Lila turned to Daisy and gave her a hard stare. 

“You are not pulling a Harry Potter on us, Zee. We need you alive and we need you to help protect the school. We... _I_ need you alive.” Lila said, grabbing Daisy’s arms before she lost the chance. “Our someday is still happening okay?” 

“I love you Lila, please be safe.” Daisy whispered, pressing a kiss to Lila’s cheek before she nodded and ran off across the green to grab her blades from her dorm. Lila sighed and headed to the battle plan room which was in the bell tower, so she could watch and coordinate the attacks. 

“Hey, Darce? How many of those bombs that we made do we have?” Daisy asked as she entered her room. 

“Six.” Darcy said, her eyes full of fear and adrenaline. 

“That’ll need to do, take them down to the weaponry. Push comes to shove we can blow the snakes to kingdom come.” Daisy said, sliding knives into her belt and handed Darcy a gun. She pulled out her last weapon, a long sabre blade and slid it into its sheath on her back. 

The two girls met Kate and Piper in the hallway, Kate with her bow and arrows and Piper with their sniper rifle. They nodded at each other and headed off, Kate and Piper to the roof to take out HYDRA from above, Darcy to the weaponry, Daisy to the square where the main battle was just beginning. 

The square was a mess of screaming, blood and confused kids who weren’t expecting an attack on this scale. Daisy jumped right into the fray, sending quakes to the gang of HYDRA agents that were going to shoot three Ops kids, second years she thinks. They fly backwards and she immediately pounces, all her training coming into full gear as she tore through them like paper, slicing arteries and eyes and anything her knives find that belong to HYDRA. 

This is her school, her home, her family. She was going to protect it if it was the last thing she did. 

“Daisy! Look out!” A bullet lands in her shoulder as she turns just a bit too slowly to Robbie’s shout. She doesn’t retreat though, just ignores the pain and keeps going, skirting the outside of the square and leaping unsuspecting HYDRA agents from the back, giving their prey the chance to get them from the front or run and get another HYDRA solider. 

But then she hears a sudden scream. She knows that scream and that voice. She whirls around, snapping whatever HYDRA soldiers neck she was choke holding. She jumps off and runs to the sidewalk beneath her dorm, staring up at the roof Kate and Piper were situated on to snipe. They’re still alive and okay from what she can make out, so why did Piper scream- 

Oh. She sees it eventually, her eyes tracking the ground where Piper still stares. 

Davis’ body lies amongst the HYDRA soldiers. A bullet through his skull. His dead empty eyes stare up at her and she feels time stand still. She’s known Davis since she was a child, she used to send him stupid memes at all hours because it annoyed him so much. He takes salt on everything and is allergic to avocado. His favourite movie is The Breakfast Club though he would never admit it, he was going to speak at his grandpa’s funeral next week, Piper was helping him with his speech. 

But he’s dead now. His blood looks almost black in the darkness of night, it splatters his face. Daisy looks up at Piper again, the world still silent and warped around her. Vaguely, she can tell there’s still fighting and she’ll have to get back to it eventually, but this is more important right now. 

She drags Davis’ body away from the HYDRA soldiers and lies it gently in the classroom she finds next to the square. She closes his eyes and wipes the blood off his face before squaring her shoulders (and fuck does that bullet hurt, jesus) and heading out the door. 

“We’ve been looking for you, Quake.” Whitehall and his cronies stand before her and and her mouth goes dry. She’s outnumbered but she could probably take them. She raises her arms to quake them but instead a cattle prod is stuck against her ribs and she’s contracting as the shock burns through her body. 

“That’s quite enough of that, Quake.” Whitehall says, his soldiers grabbing her by the shoulders, one of their fingers right on the bullet in her shoulder and she fights the urge to scream out. “We have a surprise for you.” 

She’s dragged out the doorway and led back into the square, the fighting somehow ceased. The place is empty apart from all the HYDRA bodies and she feels some weird pride for that. A lot of them were only unconscious to be fair, or stuck to the ground with their newly developed immediate freezing solution, but there were also a lot of dead bodies. The ones she killed. Somehow she knows that’s wrong, but it hasn’t fully hit her yet. 

“What the fuck do you want Whitehall?” She grunts out as she’s dragged from the square over to the bell tower. Fear erupts in her because that’s where the Comms kids were, that’s where Lila was. 

“Ah well you see Quake, this new generation of SHIELD is just full of exciting new opportunities for HYDRA. We have you of course, our little assassin once we get you back under control, and then there’s all your little friends! Most of them are enhanced, or genetic wonders, the children of agents or whatnot. You’ve even got the Maximoff twins! We were so happy to hear that they survived, once Strucker and List had died.” Whitehall prattles on, and she rolls her eyes at his excitement for what will be torture and brainwashing. Fucking psychopath. 

“Thought HYDRA had better things to do with their time than try to kidnap and kill kids. Think you might need a hobby.” Not her best, but she’s under pressure here. She gets a finger prodded on the bullet for that and another shock from the cattle prod. 

“Well, why find our own soldiers when SHIELD trained them for us? Just a bit of experimentation and control and we’ll have a perfect army!” He said, guiding them into the battle room where the Comms kids were waiting with the remaining and non-injured Ops kids from the battle. The kids turned their guns on Whitehall and his soldiers. 

“Now, now, children, put those silly things away before someone gets hurt.” He cooed at them, and Daisy wanted to throw up. 

“What do you want?” Lila stepped forward and took control of the situation. 

“Oh my, if it isn’t Lila Barton, Hawkeye’s daughter. My, my, the things you and Quake could do when I get you both under control. You’d be an even better Strike Team DELTA! Alas, we are here for your little friend group.” Whitehall finishes and Lila shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. 

“Just us?” Lila asked, catching Daisy’s eye. “Everyone else lives?” 

“Will you come willingly if they do?” Whitehall countered, seemingly amused by the notion. “How heroic. Sure, I’m feeling generous tonight.” 

“Okay, we’ll come.” Lila said, the Legacies at her heels apart from Kate, Piper and the twins who were still missing. 

“Good, and the rest of you? I wouldn’t get any ideas about leaving, I’ll be leaving guards here.” Whitehall said, turning and leading the group out of the battle plan room and up to the roof of the bell tower. “We should be picked up shortly.” 

“Wanna let me go then?” Daisy said dryly. 

“Oh right, guards, let Quake go.” Whitehall waved away his guards and they let Daisy go. She immediately went over to her friends, noting that whilst Robbie and Jules had minor injuries, everyone else seemed relatively unharmed. 

“Kell egy terv.” (We need a plan.) She whispered to them, Whitehall busy on his phone. She’d forced them all to learn Hungarian, the only language she knew most of HYDRA didn’t speak. 

“Az ikrek a földről támadnak, Kate és Piper a tetőről.” (The twins are going to attack from the ground, Kate and Piper from the roof.) Lila whispered back, looking worriedly at Daisy’s shoulder but Daisy shook her head. 

“Nem várhatunk ilyen sokáig, tényleg azt hiszed, hogy mindenkit életben hagynak?” (We can’t wait that long, you really think they’ll let everyone live?) Robbie argued. 

“A nagy pajzs egy órán át nem ér ide, megtámadták a csövet és az agyat is.” (Big shield won’t get here for another hour, they attacked the Tube and the Hub as well.) Lila sighed. They were completely alone.

”Budapest.” Daisy said suddenly, looking at Lila. “We could try Budapest.” 

“Mi a fene ez Budapest?” (What the hell is Budapest?) Lincoln cut in, but Lila and Daisy were already signing rapidly to work it out without the guards noticing. 

They turned back to the group and signalled for them to split, Daisy taking Darcy’s gun, which was an Icer anyway and subtly shooting half the guards, the boys catching them before they fell, dragging them into the stairwell. The other guards were talking amongst themselves to notice the kids sneaking into the shadows. Robbie, Darcy and Jules escaped down the stairs to let the Comms kids escape. The other guards finally seemed to notice the kids were gone and turned to the remaining kids. 

Another fight broke out, this one more evenly matched. Lincoln and Joey took on four guards, Trip took on three and Scarlett stuck close behind him, gun raised to anyone who came near her. Daisy and Lila however, had climbed down the drainpipe, using the same tactics their parents had in Budapest, to climb along the front of the bell tower so they were right underneath Whitehall. Daisy heard shots ring out from the top and more screams, male this time. Dread filled her stomach but she looked down and saw the Comms and Sci-Tech kids running out from the bell tower and dining room, all running to the safety of the Quinjets that had just arrived. 

Her and Lila quickly scaled back up the edge of the roof and got over the top, surprising Whitehall. Daisy jumped him, pinning him to the ground in seconds. 

“This is for my biological mother you sick son of a bitch.” She stabbed him in the chest. “This is for the people you made me kill.” She stabbed him again. “This is for my mind you broke.” Again, was someone else screaming or was it her? “This is for everything!” She stabbed him in the eye and got off him, kicking his body for good luck. He was dead though, finally, her nightmare was dead. 

“Dais...” She hears Lila gasp. She turns her head and sees Lincoln cradling Joey’s body and Trip holding Scarlett’s. Both of them have shots in their chests, all of them crying. 

And in one last horrific twist of fate, one last HYDRA soldier grabs Lila and dangles her off the roof. 

“No!” Daisy shouts but it’s too late. 

He drops her and grabs Daisy.

And Lila screams as she falls, further and further and she’s going to hit the cement. This is it. This is her death. Eighteen years old, smashed to pieces on the sidewalk she’s walked so many time in the past three years. 

Does Daisy know she still loved her? Does she know that she wants all of it? The team and the missions and the battlegrounds and the house in France? Does she know that Lila would kill just to kiss her again and not regret it in the morning? Does she know that her kisses tasted like lemons and strawberries and that the taste was more intoxicating than vodka and cider to Lila? Did she know any of that? 

Lila prayed that she did. 

Daisy sees Lila fall. She rips through the HYDRA agent holding her back, ignoring the pain ricocheting through her arms because Lila is falling. The girl she loves more than life itself is going to die, but she won’t if Daisy can slow the fall. 

She runs over to the roof and pushes out with her hands, encircling Lila with a shield of energy to cushion the fall. It’s not perfect and for one horrible moment she thinks it’s failed, but Lila hits the bottom a lot slower than she should have. 

Daisy doesn’t even take the stairs, she just uses her already over extended powers to quake herself down the four levels of the bell tower, cracking the earth slightly as she lands. She runs shakily over to Lila who for the most part, looks unharmed. 

“Zee...” she rasps, blood dripping from her temple from where the HYDRA agent hit her with the butt of his gun. Her left leg is at an awkward angle and her right arm is definitely broken but she looks otherwise okay. “Zee...” 

“Shh, butterfly. You’re okay.” Daisy shushes her, cradling her head as the squads roll in and suddenly there’s HYDRA agents on them again. Seriously where the fuck where they coming from?

“Come anywhere near us and I’ll kill you.” She says coldly to the agents who freeze their advances. They know how she is, what she can do. They know she’ll do it in a heartbeat and not even blink. 

“Daisy?” Lila’s voice is small but steady. She’s okay and she’s not dead. Must be a miracle. 

“I made you a promise didn’t I? I’m not gonna let you get hurt again. Close your eyes, you don’t want to see this.” Daisy says and Lila shuts her eyes obediently. She feels the force of the quake that forces itself out of Daisy, the girl screams in pain and Lila holds on tight to her leg. The scent of blood fills the air and when Lila opens her eyes, it’s like something from a horror movie. 

“I think that was the last of them.” Daisy gasps, the effort catching up on her wrecked body. Turns out that cattle prods and bullet wounds weren’t great for the energy levels. 

“You saved us.” Lila tells her. 

“Always. I will always try to save you.” 

“I have a feeling we’ll be going home a bit sooner than we thought.” Lila says and Daisy laughs tiredly. 

“We always were ones for the dramatic.” Daisy cups Lila’s cheeks gently with her bruised fingers and leans in to kiss her. It’s gentle and soft, they’re both tired and injured and have more near death experiences between them than they ever wanted, but they’re alive. 

They’re alive. 


	44. The Waiting Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly i missed writing the parents. this is mainly just some strike team delta content, bobbinat content, lila actually talking to her dad since i seem to be incapable of writing that, and bobbinat and daisy content because i love that little family okay 
> 
> WARNINGS: hospitals(?), grief, slight panic attack, injuries, lot of swearing in this one
> 
> -bex xx (imma stop writing enjoy now unless it’s fluffy because it’s just so much angst and i’m sorry)

“Bug asleep?” Nat asked tiredly as Clint walked back into the waiting room from Lila’s room. 

“Finally.” He said with an exhausted sigh. “Laura’s still in there with her.” It had been an endless twenty six hours of stress. Him and Nat had been stationed at the Triskellion for a week when the alarms started blaring. The Hub, the Tube and the Academy were all under attack at once. Strike Team’s Alpha, Bravo and Charlie were sent to the Hub, whilst Lima, Quebec and Tango were sent to the Tube. 

Strike Team’s Delta, Echo, Golf and Sierra were sent to the Academy with extra jets to get the kids to safety at various bases. 

Him and Nat got there just in time to watch Lila, his fucking _daughter_ , fall four storeys off the fucking bell tower, Daisy only just catching her but she still hit the ground with a thud. Daisy came down after her, literally launching herself after Lila, the ground splitting when she landed. 

They were still trying to get kids on the jets, Bobbi showing them the basics and setting autopilots for kids who were barely even legally allowed driver’s licenses, they couldn’t get to their own kids in time to stop the HYDRA agents that swarmed them. 

Daisy’s quake was felt throughout the entire campus, possibly the entirety of Indiana. The HYDRA soldiers were sent flying, slamming into walls and trees and who knows what else but Lila and Daisy were still alive at the end. Daisy screamed in pain as the quake faded, the cries turning to soft sobs as they all watched the two girls in relief. 

“Clint, you’re shaking.” Nat said, placing a grounding hand on his arm. 

“My kid almost died, Nat. If Daisy hadn’t caught her...” He trailed off as he caught sight of other parents at the other end of the hospital waiting room. Their faces were contorted in grief and shock and anger. They lost their children today. 

“But she did, Clint. Lila is going to be just fine.” Nat comforted him, trying to distract herself from her own pain. Daisy was still surgery, they were fixing her broken bones and removing the bullet from her shoulder. 

Daisy shouldn’t have been hurt again. They promised her she wouldn’t get hurt again, but she did. This kept fucking happening and they were continually powerless to fucking stop it. Daisy could finally crack under this, hell she nearly did from the force of that quake she let out when HYDRA agents tried to swarm her and Lila. 

“Nat, baby, breathe.” Bobbi pulled her off the chair and away from Clint down the hallway. Natasha wasn’t even aware that her breathing was quickening whilst she tried to comfort Clint but now that Bobbi pulled her away, she noticed the tightness in her chest and the black spots in her vision. She couldn’t freak out now, Daisy still needed them. 

“B-Bobbi-“ She choked out, Bobbi nodding and pulling away a little, Natasha gripping her wrists to feel her pulse point so she could regulate her breathing. 

“They could have died Bobbi! Daisy is sixteen! Sixteen fucking years old and she nearly got taken again and had to protect her friends and she’s in surgery right now and we promised her, Bob! We promised her she wouldn’t get hurt again. We can’t keep breaking her trust like.” Natasha sobbed into Bobbi’s arms, the stress of the situation hitting her all at once. 

“Tasha, listen to me. I know this hurts right now, trust me I want to rip someone’s fucking head off and I would really love my batons or something right now, but Tash, she’s going to live okay? Her injuries weren’t life threatening and she has got through worse. She has battled the Red Room, immigration to a completely different country, our crazy lives, nightmares, anorexia, brainwashing, being kidnapped by HYDRA...and we’re going to stick around for her, Tasha. No missions this time okay? We’re taking time off and I swear we are going to get her through this if it’s the last thing we do.” Bobbi says fiercely, tears running down her own face as she spoke. Natasha nodded slightly and leaned into Bobbi, kissing her gently. 

“She shouldn’t have gone through any of that.” She whispered when they broke apart. 

“But she did, and she’s still alive, Tash. That’s the best thing we can ask for right now.” Bobbi said. “Cmon, she’ll be out of surgery soon and we have a bunch of kids out there who’ll be traumatised.” 

* * *

“Dad?” Lila groaned as her eyes opened, painfully she might add. God, it was like her first hangover, the flu and being hit in the head with a baseball bat combined. “Mom?” 

“Hey, Lilabug. Slowly now, there’s a girl.” Her dad said softly as he used the remote on her bed to sit her up. Wait, remote? When the hell did they get to the hospital? The last thing she remembered was falling, the ground, the quake, a kiss, the jet...she passed out after that. 

“W’happened?” She rasped, her mom pressing a straw to her mouth. She drank the cool water gratefully. She could speak a lot easier after that. “Tell me, please.” 

“HYDRA attacked. You fell off the bell tower, Daisy caught you, but then you were surrounded, she- you don’t have to worry about them okay? They’re all gone, Bug.” Her dad promised. Something in Lila’s heart set alight when he mentioned Daisy. 

“Joey, Scarlett and Davis. They’re- did they make it?” She needs to know before she knows about Daisy. 

“I’m sorry Bug.” Tears fill Lila’s eyes. “They didn’t make it.” 

Those were her friends. Her friends that she spent _three years_ with, hell she shared a fucking room with Scarlett. How was her group going to survive this? How were any of them going to be able to deal with who they lost? 

“Everyone else?” She says eventually. 

“They’re fine, mostly surface wounds. Daisy just got out of surgery-“

”Surgery?” 

“She was shot, baby. It entered her right shoulder and lodged in her shoulder blade. They had to remove it and she needed surgery on her arms, she broke about seven bones.” Her mom cut to the chase, the way she always had, and Lila appreciated it, even if it stung. 

“But she’s okay?” Lila pressed. Daisy had to be okay. 

“Nat texted to say that she’s out of surgery. She’s got a long recovery to look forward to, just like you, but she’s gonna be just fine.” Her dad told her and Lila sighed in relief.

“Can I go see her?” 

“Baby...you broke your arm and your leg and you had a hit to the head. You aren’t going anywhere for a while.” Her dad said and Lila nearly cried in frustration. 

“Dad please...I need to see her. She- the others- Dad we watched them die. I need to see her.” Lila begged, her parents exchanging a worried look over her head. 

“We’ll call the nurse, see if we can get you a wheelchair. But baby, straight there straight back to bed okay?” Her mom conceded. 

“Promise.” 

* * *

Bobbi is pretty tired of seeing her kid in hospital beds. This will be the fourth time in eight years she’s waited for Daisy to wake up in a hospital of any sort, including the med-bay. (Technically, it’s the fifth but she chooses to forget most of what happened after the “Ward incident”.) First time, Daisy fractured her ankle falling out of a tree when she was ten. Second time, she had the flu. Third time, anorexia kicked her ass. Fourth time, she’d just come back from HYDRA covered in blood and only speaking Russian.

Bobbi sips her shitty hospital coffee and tried not to disturb Nat who’s sleeping on her shoulder. Clint texted to say that Lila was awake again and was begging to see Daisy, they were bringing her round once Daisy woke up and it was cleared with the nurses. Mack texted to say that he was visiting tomorrow with Hunter and Fitzsimmons. Coulson phoned to say that all the Academy kids were either back home or at the bases they called home, and they could have all the time off they needed. 

“ _трахать..._ ” ( _Fuck..._ ) Daisy cursed softly as she woke up. Bobbi smiled, of course the first thing Daisy would say after waking up from surgery would be a curse word. “мама?” (Mom?) 

“Эй детка.” (Hey, baby.) Nat stirred slightly against her shoulder but otherwise stayed asleep. Daisy turned to her with tired eyes. 

“Гидра атаковала...” (HYDRA attacked...) Daisy slurred, Bobbi nodded, gently prying Nat’s head off her shoulder and leaning it carefully against the chair instead. Woman slept like the dead when she actually needed to sleep. 

“Ушел, рок-звезда.” (Gone now, rockstar.) Bobbi whispered, walking over and stroking Daisy's hair gently. She’d cut it sometime since they last saw her, it was shoulder length now and had purple streaks through it. 

“Мы говорили это в прошлый раз.” (We said that last time.) Daisy said a bit more coherently. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Davis- Joey- Lottie-“ 

And Bobbi was powerless to do anything but hold her daughter as she sobbed for her dead friends. The bed shook a little beneath them but as for as Bobbi was concerned, Daisy could level the whole room and she wouldn’t care. She needed to let this out now, so it wouldn’t come back to haunt her like so many other things did. 

“Это моя вина.” (My fault.) Daisy whispered eventually when her tears subsided a bit. “Это моя вина, мама.” (My fault, Mom.) 

“Нет, Дейзи. Это не. Ты ничего не могла сделать, чтобы спасти их, и ты спасла так много других, это не твоя вина, детка.” (No, Daisy. It's not. You couldn't have done anything to save them, and you saved so many others, it's not your fault, baby.) Nat says, suddenly awake. Daisy turns her head to her and stares directly at her for a long time, before devolving back into tears. Bobbi climbs as carefully as she can into the bed beside Daisy so she can wrap her in a hug. Daisy clings to her in a way she hasn’t since the Christmas in Germany. After she remembered everything that happened, Daisy was practically attached to her or Nat as often as she could, longing for that closeness again. Bobbi could guess it was much the same now. 

“Лила.” (Lila.) Daisy said suddenly, still clinging to Bobbi’s shirt. “Она в порядке?” (Is she okay?) 

“She’s fine, паук, just a few broken bones. Clint’s bringing her round soon, she wanted to see you.” Nat switches to English because they’d probably be stuck in Russian for hours if they didn’t, which was fine, but Daisy could struggle to get back out sometimes, especially after trauma like this. 

“I thought I lost her, like we lost the others.” Daisy said solemnly. 

“I know, Rockstar.” Bobbi says, stroking Daisy’s hair again. “We’re sorry, baby girl.” 

“I put Davis’ body in a classroom so he wouldn’t be with the HYDRA soldiers. Did you find it?” Daisy asks, tears still falling down her cheeks and still gripping Bobbi like a vice despite the pain it probably causes in her bruised fingers. “Пожалуйста скажите что вы нашли его.” (Please say you found it.) 

“We found him, Rockstar, don’t worry.” Bobbi tells her and Daisy practically collapsed with relief. 

“And everyone else?” She asks. 

“Everyone is safe.” Nat tells her, sitting on the end of the bed. “You saved a lot of people, Dais.” 

“Not enough.” Daisy says quietly. “Never enough.” 

Bobbi and Nat share a look at that. They know what it means. To have a ledger so full you can never rewrite it, never scrub the blood off your hands, never save enough to make up for the lives you took. 

But they also knew Daisy. They knew that their kid was stubborn as all hell, spoke 28 languages, could make the earth literally shake beneath her fingertips. They knew that whilst she had her setbacks, Daisy could get through anything. 

It might long and difficult, but they would get her through this as well. They had to.


	45. The Small Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila goes to see Daisy and Lincoln goes to see Trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh another sad chapter, i’m sorry but we gotta sort this out, poor kids are a mess 
> 
> there’s fluff coming at some point i swear just the angst right now
> 
> WARNINGS: grief, alcohol, hospitals
> 
> -bex xx

It was quiet in the hospital as Lila was wheeled down the corridor. It had taken a lot of convincing to the nurses to let her out of bed, (and a lot of tears from her as well) but they finally allowed it when Daisy refused to let them touch her unless they let her see Lila first. (Never teach teenagers the power of persuasion.) 

They went past the waiting room and she caught eyes with Lincoln. He looked...hollow, she didn’t even know where to begin to describe the emotions she saw in his eyes. He twisted the ring on his finger, nodding at her slightly when she mouthed, “later.” His sister came back over from the coffee machine, with two cups. They kept walking. 

“When’s the funerals?” Lila asks. Fuck, funerals, plural. 

“Next week.” Her dad answers. “Wednesday.” 

“Oh.” 

“Okay, this is Daisy’s room. Do you want us to come in?” Her mom says, Lila shakes her head. “Okay, bug, we’ll be outside if you need us.” 

Lila took in a breath, before knocking the door. Auntie Nat opened the door and smiled softly. 

“Hey Bug, she’s been waiting for you. Thought she was gonna kill the nurse if she didn’t see you.” Nat said, and Lila would have laughed but it was a bit yknow, too soon. 

“How is she?” Lila asked instead. 

“Sitting right here, butterfly.” Daisy calls from the bed, sounding surprisingly coherent for someone waking up from literal surgery, and probably on a lot of pain meds right now. 

“Hey look, we match.” Lila says, nodding to their bandaged arms. 

“Yeah but I’ll get the cool bullet scar.” Daisy rolls eyes as her mom sighs exasperatedly. Trust Daisy to make a joke about something that could have killed her. “Uh, Mom’s? Can you, uh, give us a minute?” 

“Oh yeah, sorry girls. We’ll be outside okay?” Auntie Bobbi says, both girls nodding. They give them one last look before leaving, like they expected them to disappear if they looked away for too long. 

Lila wheels to the side of Daisy’s bed. “Saw Lincoln in the waiting room on the way here.” She says eventually, Daisy sighs. 

“Yeah, they brought Joey and Scarlett here. They tried to save them, but they’d both lost too much blood, Scarlett barely made it five minutes when she got here. Joey made it to an hour.” Daisy tells her, reaching out her fingers, wincing slightly but doing it anyway. 

“How did we get here, Dais? How did we lose that many so soon?” Lila asks, tears slipping down her cheeks again. 

“I don’t know, butterfly.” Daisy whispers, carding her hand through Lila’s hair as best she can. “These things just happen some times and it hurts like hell, but they happen and now, we rebuild I guess.” 

“You kissed me.” Lila says suddenly, begging for a change of subject before she starts sobbing again over her dead friends. She needs to do this now, she can cry later. “After the quake, you kissed me.” 

“Was that okay?” Daisy asks, following Lila’s lead, but there’s a nervousness behind it. “If you don’t want this, then it’s okay-“ 

“No, I want this. I want this so much it hurts, Daisy. I want you, I need you, okay? We can give this another try, yeah?” Lila babbles, she’s not often this desperate, but hey, she nearly fucking died, cut her some slack. 

“Yeah, yeah Lila. We’ll try again, okay? Speed up that someday a little. I love you, Lila, so fucking much. When I thought you fell...I thought I lost you too.” Daisy brings Lila’s fingers up to kiss them gently, but Lila grabs her chin and pulls her in to kiss her. The kiss is forceful and practically bruising, they are holding nothing back. They don’t have to anymore. 

“You didn’t lose me. You and me, we’re forever, aren’t we?” Lila says when they break apart, both of them wheezing a little. 

“Forever. That sounds pretty gay, Lil.” 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me, Zee. I pour my soul out to you and that’s what you respond with?” Lila exclaims, rolling her eyes. Daisy smirks. 

“It’s the pain meds?” Daisy tries to defend and Lila just shakes her head, pulling Daisy in for another kiss. “Forever sounds kinda nice though.” 

* * *

Trip opens his hotel room door hours later. Honestly he thought about ignoring it and going back to staring blankly at the wall, trying to remember the last conversation he had with Lottie and if he told her he loved her or not. But he looked through the peephole and saw Lincoln outside and figured he’d better open the door. 

“What are you doing here, Linc?” 

“I thought you might want company. I brought vodka.” Lincoln says, holding up two bottles. Trip sighed and moved to let him in. 

“This your plan? Drink away the pain?” Trip asks once they’ve closed the door and settled on the floor, some crappy sports programme on the tv set to mute. 

“Well my fiancé died yesterday so yeah, probably. You?” Lincoln deadpans, handing Trip a glass stolen from the hotel bathroom. Lincoln seemed to remember that Trip only drank vodka if it was diluted with something else, so it’s a vodka diet coke. Lincoln’s drinking it straight, like Daisy and Robbie do. 

“My girlfriend died, my best friend got shot in the head, my other best friends are in the hospital and my other friends are scattered around the country for the foreseeable. I’ll drink to that.” They clinked glasses and Trip almost wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation but all that comes out is a broken sob. 

Lottie hated vodka. Hated the smell and the burn of it going down her throat. She was a rum or whisky drinker. This almost felt like a betrayal. 

“How’d we get here, Linc? Yesterday we had partners and friends and exams to look forward to. Now all we have is this shitty vodka and an okay hotel room.” Trip sighed, leaning his head back on the bed behind him. 

“I don’t know man, I just don’t know.” Lincoln said, words slurring a little. He’d been drinking since he left the hospital and that was what? Three hours ago? Four? He had no idea. “Think we’ll survive this?” 

“They’d want us to. They’d want us to live and move on. You know what they were like.” Trip says. 

“I don’t think I want to.” Lincoln throws back another shot and shakes his head as it burns his throat. He pours another one. Anything to escape the inevitable void in his chest that seemed to have taken root. Anything to escape Joey’s last “I love you” on that rooftop as he faded slowly in Lincoln’s arms. 

Anything to stop feeling everything and nothing at the same time. 

“I think we have to. Or who will remember them?” Trip says. 

“We will. Forever.” 


	46. Goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The funeral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ouch ouch ouch this one hurts okay? pls be careful like it’s very sore 
> 
> fluff tomorrow i promise 
> 
> WARNINGS: grief, underage drinking, alcohol in general, mourning, funerals
> 
> -bex xx

Little Legacies 

>>quakingbad: who’s speaking today? 

>>tasernightmare: you are 

>>quakingbad: just me???

>>howlingwolf: no 

>>howlingwolf: wanda + piper r 2 

>>sonic: what time is it again 

>>ghostrider: 12 

>>howlingwolf: still going 2 lake l8r? 

>>quakingbad: only if you promise to 

>>quakingbad: stop using text speak 

>>howlingwolf: c u l8r :) 

Trip sighed and put his phone down. 

“Linc? You nearly ready?” Lincoln had been staying in his hotel room for the past week. His sister and parents had been by to drop off clothes and that but Lincoln hadn’t really talked to them. 

“Just a minute.” Lincoln grunted, gripping the sink in the bathroom a little harder. He didn’t want to go to the funeral. He didn’t want to say goodbye. He didn’t want Joey to be dead. He didn’t want any of it. 

“Need help in there?” Trip asked. He didn’t really want to go either but look, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew he needed closure and unfortunately he couldn’t kill the HYDRA agents that killed Lottie, Daisy already did that and for that he was actually grateful. He wasn’t a killer, not really. Neither was Daisy but he doesn’t think he could handle it like she did. 

He’s phoned Daisy a lot lately. She was stuck in a hospital bed for the past week, she was getting out this morning. Lila had been released on Monday, but she visited Daisy every day. They got back together apparently, he was happy for that. 

Someone deserved happiness in their lives. 

And Daisy got it, she understood losing people and being totally incapable to stop it. It didn’t make it hurt any less, but it helped to know someone out there understood. 

He was coping better than Lincoln was anyway. 

“Unless you have a Resurrection Stone and can bring back Joey, then no.” Lincoln replied, opening the bathroom door. Trip winced when he saw him, all dark circles and messy hair. His hands had shook when he shaved, there were tiny cuts he’d probably not even noticed. 

“That’s the one thing I can’t do unfortunately.” Trip said, bringing a comb over to Lincoln so he could at least make him look semi-functional. He was getting Lincoln therapy as soon as he could get him out of the hotel room. He was getting it himself.

”Who’s speaking?” Lincoln asked. 

“Daisy, Wanda, Piper, some teachers, Director Hill, Director Coulson. It was in the group chat.” Trip told him, combing Lincoln’s hair to the side then remembering that’s how Joey used to do it, so he combed it to the other side. Lincoln didn’t need reminders of what he lost today, none of them did. 

“My phone’s been off.” Lincoln shrugged, twisting the ring on his finger. He did that a lot, maybe he thought it would bring them back, maybe it just comforted him. 

“Where are you gonna go after this?” Trip asks, meaning after they have to leave the hotel room, not just the hotel room. “I’m heading to my grandma’s for the summer.” 

“Going home. I gotta decide whether I’m going to John Hopkins or to England with the rest of you.” Lincoln sighed. He really didn’t know what to do. 

“Maybe it would be better if you were with us? I get the whole need for solitude or whatever, but we’re all here for you, you know that right?” 

“I know and thanks, Trip, for everything.” Lincoln said, pulling Trip into a hug. 

“Anytime.”

* * *

“Uh hi. I’m Daisy Morse-Romanoff and before you ask, yes _that_ Morse and _that_ Romanoff.” There’s laughter as Daisy starts her speech. God knows why they asked her and not Lila, but she wasn’t exactly going to say no. 

“I don’t want to tell you that losing Joey, Davis, Scarlett, John, Taylor and Tristan was a tragedy. You already know that. I don’t want to tell you that they’ll be missed either, because you and they already know that, or I hope they do. You’re probably wondering what I am going to tell you then because I’ve really built this up now.” Laughter again. It almost feels wrong, like she shouldn’t be making them laugh in this cold hall. They gathered everyone in the assembly hall in the Academy. It was almost cruel, putting everyone in the place where it started. Daisy can still see the blood stain, though it’s been cleaned, on the floor where she slit the Superior’s throat. 

“I didn’t know John and Taylor that well, they were Sci-Tech kids and the most I can really tell you about science is how to stitch up a wound or what chemicals not to put in a bomb. But I know they were good kids, they could have gone really far in this world.” 

“I knew Tristan better, he was in my Comms classes. He spoke Mandarin and Italian, so we used to practice together. He was an amazing strategist, was planning to backup a Strike team one day. Maybe transfer to the CIA or FBI one day, he watched a lot of Criminal Minds and his favourite character was Morgan. I used to make fun of him for that, Prentiss is so much better. And don’t even get me started on Garcia and JJ...” 

“Scarlett was one of my best friends.” Wanda starts when Daisy finishes, not a dry eye in the house.

Daisy talked about the good memories with the kids, she apologised for not being able to save them, talked about how no one should even be forgotten no matter how insignificant or important they were. 

“She was my lab partner, ever since first year. We got on well together, and as much as my friends think it was them that got me up to speed with American culture, it was actually Lottie. We used to do all those stupid Buzzfeed quizzes at our breaks or waiting for our experiments to finish. Fun fact, Scarlet was most like Princess Aurora and had the same qualities as a piece of Spirali pasta, whatever that meant. Then her and Jules and Kate got put in our dorm the next year. She used to break up the power fights in our dorm, team up with Lila to force us to go to sleep. She dreamed about horses and she was terrified of clowns. I helped her get ready for her first date with Trip, god she was so nervous. I told her to wear blue because we wear too much black. We argued about the fashion of spies for four weeks after that. Her and Trip were one of those relationships you’re jealous of, one of those movie relationships. But you could never be jealous of Lottie, she was too nice for that. I didn’t know anyone who didn’t like her and I don’t think I ever will. Lottie was good people, and I’ll really miss her. We all will.” 

“James Davis was my second cousin six times removed and most of the time, I wanted to kill him which I realise is not the thing to say right now.” Piper starts, awkward laughter ringing out. Kate smiled and nods encouragingly so Piper continues. 

“I grew up with Davis, mainly because I had to, not only was I related to him but then he showed up at the Junior Academy and I was stuck with him. But I didn’t really care as we grew up. Davis was a sarcastic asshole who was the straightest person I’d ever met, but we looked past that eventually.” Only the Legacies looked at that, garnering them and Piper glares from the more conservative adults in the audience. 

“But Davis was also one of the kindest people. He helped me when I realised I was gay, when I realised I was non-binary. Hell, he was one of the only people to attempt to talk to Morse-Romanoff over there when she went all assassin on us. He got bruises for that, but hey he tried. That was the person he was and I’m just really gonna miss that dumb-dumb.” Piper stopped for a minute to catch their breath. 

“Joey was an awkward science kid with melting powers we kind of adopted when he started dating Lincoln. Funny story to how they started dating actually, we came up with this whole plan for how to win Capture the Flag in first year, which we have won for three years running actually, and it involved some old espionage of Lincoln flirting with Joey for information. However, that flirting turned into making out which turned into a three year relationship and an engagement. But like Davis, Joey turned into one of my best friends. When he wasn’t surgically attached to his boyfriend, he was making jewellery or planning the next prank with me and Trip or helping someone with their physics homework. He was the only last year who could go on the Tilta-World five times in a row with me, even though he barfed after it.” Lincoln actually laughed a little at that one, remembering holding a trash can under Joey for an hour after that. 

“That was something amazing about our group, we all just kind of clicked. We were made up of a Russian assassin with two super spies as adopted parents, and a farm kid from Idaho who was the child of Hawkeye, and the grandson of a Howling Commando with more stories than Methuselah. Two cousins who were the kids of agents with more sarcasm and fights between them than a millennial stand up comedian. Twins from Sokovia who’d barely seen a movie until three years ago. An Inhuman with electricity powers who was just a little too into musical theatre, who started dating another Inhuman with metal bending powers that taught us all about drag queens because yes, they were that stereotypical. And then we got a leather wearing bad boy with a demon in his head. He’s a teddy bear though if your name is Pietro, Daisy or Lila. And then we hit second year and we adopted three more kids to our little ragtag family. We got another Hawkeye, because you can’t have too many of those, who turned out to be the best person I know, and now we’re dating so hands off. We got a blonde scientist with more joy in her than a kid on Christmas and we got another Inhuman, a hydro kinetic who will kick your ass in training and then go clean her aura with her crystals or whatever. Finally, in third year we adopted our fourteenth child, a hacker with the weirdest family I’ve ever heard about and some and engineering talents that somehow ended in her and Daisy blowing up their room a couple times.” 

“In short, our group is pretty amazing and now we’ve had this awful tragedy that could ruin us. It feels weird to know that we’ve lost, you never think it’ll happen to you. You didn’t think you could lose people that young. Our job has an 80% death rate but that was for the adults, not the kids. We’ve lost our friends, brothers, sisters, and I’m sorry. But I’d like to believe that nothing lasts forever, even life or death. Maybe we’ll see them again, maybe we won’t. I’m just happy I got to know them, any of them. They were family, they were my friends and I loved them. Thank you.” 

* * *

“Who knew Pipes had emotions about us, huh?” Kate jokes as they sit at the edge of the lake. She’s got her head on Piper’s lap, legs on Wanda’s. Daisy’s sitting in Lila’s lap, somehow they both fit in the wheelchair Lila’s still using until she transfers to crutches in two weeks. Her arm will be casted for six weeks, her leg needs twelve. Daisy’s arms are still heavily bandaged and she’ll need to rehab her shoulder when she comes out. She’s just using it as an excuse to be left handed again. 

“I liked their speech.” Jules grins. She’s leaving against a tree, Darcy’s head in her lap so Jules can play with her hair. Pietro’s in Robbie’s lap of course, Trip and Lincoln sit side by side, forever bonded by the people they lost. 

“It was a nice service.” Daisy says quietly, her finger softly drumming her thigh, something she’d started doing again lately. Everyone noticed she was constantly checking exits and entrances, the ceiling, anywhere people could sneak up on them. Hyper vigilance, she just wants to protect everyone now. She can’t let anyone else die. 

“Where’s everyone going after this?” Robbie piped up. “We don’t have to go to England until August.” 

“Providence. Neither of us want to go home with our parents.” Kate answers for her and Piper. Piper had practically emancipated themselves at this point, their parents came to the service of course, but they didn’t stop to chat. No point, there wouldn’t really be anything to say. Kate hates her dad and her mom just doesn’t really care that much, so she’s been bouncing around SHIELD for a while now. 

“Home.” Lincoln and Trip say together. 

“Respective homes.” Trip clarifies, though he knows they all understand. None of them have really been alone since last week. 

“Sonic here is coming home with me to LA.” Robbie says, Pietro snuggling a little deeper into his boyfriend, mainly just grateful he wasn’t the one that lost as horrible as that was. There were slight benefits in having a boyfriend with a demon in his head, he was basically immortal. 

“The farm and then the Playground.” Lila said. 

“Russia and then the Playground.” Daisy echoed. “Wanda’s coming with me.” 

“Why are you going to Russia?” Piper asked. 

“Stuff to check on out there, Wanda just wants to see where I grew up. Kind of a study-break thing. We’re stopping by Sokovia on the way back.” Daisy explained but the answer was guarded. She never talked about what they checked on in Russia, but she went every year with one or both of her parents. Wanda going though, that was new, but none of them were going to question it really.

“We’re going to help set up the new Academy in England and then heading to the Playground for the rest of the summer.” Jules said for her and Darcy. 

“The Tube was compromised, right? Did they get it back?” Robbie asked. 

“Yeah, they got it back, unlike the Hub.” Jules answered. Everyone nodded. Agents lives were lost at the Hub, HYDRA gassed them immediately, it was how they took control so fast. 

“So, are we doing this?” Daisy said when they’d taken a moment, holding up a bottle of whisky. The group nodded and held out their shot glasses, three extra ones at the edge of the water. 

The group stood at the edge, (if they could) as Daisy poured them all a shot. How she did it with arms that had just had surgery, no one could answer but she was the only one whose hands didn’t shake when they poured the collective favourite brand of whisky of Davis, Joey and Lottie. She poured the last three shots, the ones that wouldn’t be drunk and threw the empty bottle way into the water, quaking it so it would break in mid air and disappear forever in the depths. 

“Dearly beloved-“ Darcy started. 

“We’re not doing that. And stop watching Married at First Sight.” Kate cut her off and Darcy flipped her the bird, but stopped before she started the whole spiel. 

“To Davis.” Piper said, tipping the shot in to the lake. 

“To Joey.” Lincoln followed. 

“Lottie.” Trip whispered, the last shot joining the others. 

“Spies goodbye.” Lila muttered, tugging Daisy closer to her. Many of them were crying, silent tears in solidarity for their fallen friends. 

“Hey guys?” Daisy piped up when they’d all drank. “We don’t have a token straight anymore.” 

It was so stupid that it made them all snort and laugh. Even Lincoln laughed slightly at the dumb joke, even as the tears slipped down his face and his ring glinted in the sunset. Joey made him that ring, he was never taking it off. 

“God speed.” Trip said, raising his empty glass to the air, in his circle of friends he didn’t feel as empty as he had. He felt like he might get better, that the loneliness wouldn’t last forever even if the pain did. That he could be okay one day. 

“Adiós y dios los bendiga.” (Goodbye and god bless.) Robbie said, also raising his glass, Pietro tucking himself into Robbie’s other arm.

“May they rest in peace.” Wanda and Pietro said together in Sokovian, glasses raised to the centre of the circle with the boys. 

“Op betere dingen.” (To better things.) Lila said softly. 

“For our brothers and sister, may they find happiness.” Piper said, hand entwined with Kate’s. 

“Or a better place.” Kate said. 

“They were good people.” Darcy continued. 

“They didn’t deserve this.” Lincoln said gruffly, but he raised his glass all the same. “But it happened, and I’ll miss them. We loved them, I hope they know that.” 

“На миру и смерть красна.” (Death is red in the world.) Daisy said, the last one to raise her glass. They stood there for a minute, silence ringing around them but they didn’t care. The world had been too loud lately, this silence was welcomed. 

“What did that even mean, Zee?” Lila asks later, when they’ve all started to leave. 

“Death is red in the world. It means, loosely, that death is beautiful when you are around people. I don’t believe in it, but I understand it.” Daisy explained. “My mom’s waiting to pick me and Wanda up. I’ll see you in a month okay?” 

“Be careful out there, yeah?” 

“Always.” Daisy leaned in to kiss Lila goodbye.

”Don't die out there.” Lila whispered in Daisy’s ear when they broke apart. 

“I’ll be careful, I promise. This shouldn’t be combat or anything, we’re just going to check the Red Room isn’t back and HYDRA labs are gone. We’ll be fine baby, I swear.” 

“I can’t lose you too.” Lila begs. 

“Then you won’t. I’ll call every day. I love you, butterfly. Toujours.” (Forever.) 

“Okay. See you later.” Lila gave her one last kiss before letting her catch up with Wanda and her mom. Daisy sent her a text from the car. 

>>lovergirl: i’ll bring u chocolate 

>>lovergirl: tell the stars about u 

>>lovergirl: i love you 

Lila sighed and leaned her head back, watching Trip practically carry Lincoln to his sister’s car. Darcy opened the door for him. 

>>butterfly: love you too 

>>butterfly: don’t die out there 


	47. Survivors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda and Daisy visit the remains of the Red Room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> because even tho there’s this whole new trauma, these two still have shit in their pasts. there’s still some fluff in here tho 
> 
> WARNINGS: past red room, past child abuse, child murder, child torture(brief), murder, arson, war 
> 
> also i kind of stole the format of going thru different parts of daisys chikdhood by ages from innertimetraveldetective’s fic, What We Become, go check it out! 
> 
> -bex xx

Daisy and Wanda stood side by side in a massive forest in Stalingrad, watching the flames burn the scorched earth once again. 

“When you said you wanted to commit arson, this wasn’t exactly what I thought you meant.” Wanda said, Daisy putting away her lighter. Her mom’s were waiting for them back at the car, but she’d wanted to watch the fire for a while. Call it therapy. 

“I do this every year.” Daisy said. “We come back here to make sure no one rebuilt, no one was left, then we burn it to the ground again.” 

“Do you miss it?” Wanda asks quietly, but the way Daisy shifts gives her an answer. To be fair, she would have known the answer even if Daisy hadn’t moved, she’s known the girl for over five years now if you count all that time spent at the Triskellion before the Academy.

Sometimes Daisy could be read like an open book, (if you had weird mind reading powers) most of the time you had no idea what was going through the girl’s head but you got a glimpse every now and then.

Daisy _did_ miss the Red Room sometimes. She missed the easy routine of it all, of knowing what was going to come every day, what was expected of her. It’s why she likes the Academy so much, her and Wanda have that in common. 

“Not always. This is like my Sokovia yknow? Shitty when I was there and fucked me up a little or a lot, but I still miss it. Isn’t that fucked up?” Daisy explains, flicking her lighter on and off, the flame dancing in the wind like the others. 

“Not necessarily. I miss Sokovia, but it was also a war torn country in dire poverty. We could barely afford to eat most days and the civil war got my parents killed and me and Pietro some weird powers. And yet I’d do anything to go back some days. Isn’t that fucked up?” Wanda said, casting red tendrils to show Daisy what Sokovia was like. She liked this part of her powers, the way she could tell stories with just some red wisps. Daisy watched entranced as Wanda showed her parts of her childhood, ice skating in the winter, (Daisy kind of tenses at that one, but Wanda’s seen those nightmares, she understands.) all the little Sokovian girls on their first day of school with perfect braids and the boys in freshly ironed shirts, the cherry blossoms that bloomed in summer. 

”Sokovia was a beautiful place, it’s not fucked up that you miss it.” Daisy whispers, still watching the memories from Wanda’s head. 

“It would have stayed that way if the wars hadn’t happened.” Wanda sighed, the picture show changing to show Daisy the bombs and the people starving, the kids dying in the streets whilst their parents screamed, (only for a minute, that was far too recent for both of them) her and Pietro trapped in their living room with a live bomb. Daisy nodded in understanding, she knew this sort of childhood. 

“But it’s still home for you.” Daisy said once the tendrils has faded, disappearing into the flames that were beginning to die down too. 

“And this place is home for you, no matter how much it hurt you.” 

“You wanna see what it looked like?” That makes Wanda sit up straighter, Daisy hardly ever let her inside her head. 

“You’re letting me in your head?” 

“Just the Red Room stuff, stay away from everything past 2012, and stay away from ice skating. You’ve already seen that.” Daisy said, gripping Wanda’s hands so it would be easier. They’d tried this a little before, back when Daisy first came back from being brainwashed, she wasn’t telling them what happened and Garner recommended they try to break in there. Daisy was barely even talking at the time, but she gave her consent. There was a mental block though, too strong for Wanda to break through and all it did was make Daisy’s nightmares worse. 

But Daisy was giving her free access to her childhood now, that meant a lot. Complete trust that Wanda wouldn’t stray too far into Daisy’s mind and see the things Daisy didn’t want her to see. She could work with that. 

“You’re sure?” Wanda checks one last time before she does this. 

“I’m sure.” Daisy assures her, both of them nodding and turning to the burnt remains of the Red Room.

* * *

_ A tall white building stands before them. Looming and dangerous, two year old Mary Sue stands on shaky legs before it, still wrapped in the scratchy blanket she was dropped off at the orphanage in. It stinks of the laundry detergent at the orphanage the nuns use because it’s cheap. She’s allergic to it, it gives her hives, but they just said she was a whiner.  _

_ “You must be Daisy.” A tall woman with a threatening smile and an accent she doesn’t know stands over her, her tiny hand still gripped by the man who lifted her from her cot in the orphanage and brought her here. “Your daddy’s told me all about you.”  _

_ Daisy? That’s not her name, her name is Mary Sue and she hates it. Daisy wasn’t such a bad name...Wait. Her daddy? That can’t be right, she doesn’t have one. But if this woman was saying she’d met him, maybe he was out there after all.  _

_ “You want me?” She asks tentatively, the woman laughs a harsh laugh that makes Mary Sue attempt to back up, but the hand holding hers has an iron grip and she only manages to stumble a few steps.  _

_ “You’re going to be our greatest weapon Daisy. You’re going to be our newest Widow, the Destroyer of Worlds.”  _

* * *

_ Three year old Daisy sits curled up in the isolation box. She has no idea how long she’s been here, but she knows she’ll do anything to avoid this place for the rest of her life. It’s dark and cold and small and she feels like she’s suffocating but there’s no one holding her throat this time.  _

_ She knows better than to scream. Widow’s do not scream, Widow’s are marble.  _

_ She will be marble. She will not break.  _

_ She will be Quake, the best Widow there has ever been and she will not break. She is better than that. She knows better than that.  _

_ You are marble. You will not break. It’s beat into her back with Madame’s cane when she gets out of the box but she stands there, on stronger legs than last year, and she takes it.  _

_ She is marble. She will not break.  _

* * *

_A four year old Daisy speaks twelve languages and she hasn’t spoken English in over a year. Russian is basically her first language, even if she’s only been here for two years. She doesn’t really remember the before, she only remembers the now. Ballet and training and running in the woods, the isolation box and a cuff on her wrist at night and the scientists who like to put things in her brain._

_Yahontov forces her head under the water again. She fights to stay under as long as she can without struggling, struggling will get her beat. He screams at her in Russian, the water shoots up her nose and she’s actually kind of afraid of drowning, but she is marble. She stands strong. She will not break._

* * *

_”Нет! Нет! Опять!” (No! No! Again!) Madame’s voice rung in her ears. The_ _whack of a cane hits her back again, her leg must not shake this time. Right hand on the barre, they keep breaking her left._

_ Widow’s are perfect marble. Statues. They do not have imperfections like puppy fat or jagged teeth or using their left hand. Her left hand is bruised and purple and she is five years old.  _

_ The music starts again. Tchaicovsky’s music fills their ears, a soft soundtrack to this nightmare they live in. Marya stumbles and trips going across the floor again. Madame is whippet fast across the studio, Marya covers her head but it is no use. A gun is cocked. It is handed to Hanna instead.  _

_ “Ты сделаешь это, или это будешь ты.” (You will do this, or it will be you.)  _

_Hanna_ _stares at Marya. They sleep next to each other, they could be considered friends. They’re older than Daisy, but they’ve not been here as long, maybe a year. Daisy watches as Hanna takes the gun, hand shaking as she does. Daisy wants to close her eyes but she can’t, or she will be next._

_ Hanna pulls the trigger. Tchaicovsky keeps playing.  _

_ Another girl dies and they keep dancing. Pointe shoes dipping in the blood on the floor and dyeing the soft pink red. _

_Daisy is powerless to stop any of it. Marya’s name is carved into her tiny bit of wall later, the ground shakes a little that night_. 

* * *

_Six year old Daisy has a choice to make. she can pick up the knife or the bread. she hasn’t eaten in three days. If she picks up the bread, Alina beside her could pick up the knife instead. If Alina picks up the knife, Daisy will die. If Daisy chooses the knife, she has to kill Alina._

_ It will be her fourth kill.  _

_ It will be Alina’s sixth.  _

_She has to be better than Alina, better than Natalia, Madame’s prised possession even though she’s a traitor now. She has to be better than all of them if she has any hope of surviving to save the others._

_ Daisy makes her choice.  _

_ The knife glints in the harsh lighting. She likes knives, they’re easier to use than guns. Her knife will always hit its target, her shot is always a tiny bit off but she’s fixing that.  _

_ Alina gasps slightly beside her, cursing softly in Russian. Madame smiles at Daisy, and six year old Daisy, who knows no better yet, smiles back.  _

_ She smiled as she slit Alina’s throat. a clean cut. Her blood stains Daisy’s shirt, the clean white turning dark scarlet but she smiles. The light in Alina’s eyes dies slowly, she watched it fade completely and Daisy  smiles.  _

_ She doesn’t smile later, in her dorm when her arm is cuffed to the bed and she carves another name into the wall behind her bed. _

* * *

_“Ну Же, Дейзи!” (Now, Daisy!) A trainer shouts and seven year old Daisy lifts her arms in the air, sending everyone slamming into walls. It aches and burns in her arms, she’s not used to using this much power all the time. Black bruises spread like veins across her skin and maybe she should be worried about that but she has a job to do if she any hope of staying alive._

_“Хорошая девочка, а вон тот мужчина? Пуля в голову.” (Good girl, now, that man over there? Bullet in his head.) And that makes her heart glow with pride, she doesn’t often get complimented, normally just trained harder. She nods with a practiced ease and runs off to find the man she’s going to kill._

_“S'il vous plaît, j'ai une famille.” (Please, I have a family.) The man begs and Daisy wants to laugh in his face. Widow’s are marble, Widow’s do not break._

_She shoots him in the head, a clean shot right through the skull that will kill him instantly. She grabs his wallet and checks his ID._

_Frederick Aubuchon is carved into her wall later that night with her bruised fingers. There’s only ten girls left in her dorm from her generation. They have to get out soon or she’ll be the last one left._

* * *

_”Come on, little one, you’re okay, come with me.” A man in a black tac suit with an eagle on his shoulder tries to convince her to go with him. Eight year old Daisy hisses and spits in his face. She doesn’t trust people, especially not men. Men will beat you, men are to be used when you want information, men will put you in isolation, men crawl into your bed at night._

_It’s been a long year._

_“I really need you to come with me, kid.” He tries again, and Daisy can feel the heat of the fire around her, she can hear the screaming and the sirens. She hears a very familiar scream ring out from the dormitory, Greta, six years old, still chained to her bed. Daisy crawls out from the weapons locker she’d been hiding in and knocks the man out with one punch. She runs as fast as she can through the facility, finding most of the rooms on fire and most of the people she’s grown up with, dead._

_She gets to the dormitory, the scent of burnt flesh hangs in the air but she doesn’t gag._

_Widow’s are marble. Widow’s do not break._

_She sprints over to Greta’s bed, leaping over fires and flames. But Greta’s stopped screaming. The little girl’s eyes have closed and Daisy can’t find a pulse. Black soot covers her face and Daisy knows it’s too late. It’s too late to save any of it, her home. She might hate it here and she might want to save all the girls from becoming what she has, but it’s her home, the only place she’s ever known._

_She knows as soon as she’s grabbed up by a female in another black tac suit with the same eagle as the guy who tried to get her earlier, that everything is about to change._

_Maybe it’ll be a good thing._

* * *

“That was...” Wanda can’t quite find the words for all that she’d seen. 

“Fucked up?” Daisy supplies, but her hands shake. “Trust me, I know.” 

“I’m sorry Dais.” 

“It was a while ago now, and hey, I’ve had a whole bunch of new traumas to counteract that one. I’m good now, honestly, better than I ever expected to be.” Daisy promises, hands finally stilling as she looked at the scorched earth, the grass dead from eight solid years of constant burning. “And I get to come commit arson every year.” 

“You’re ridiculous.” Wanda laughed, despite the heavy atmosphere that existed two minutes ago. Daisy was always good at that, taking a bad situation and making it okay, laughing about it. 

“You love me.” Daisy nudged her shoulder. “But, uh, thanks for that. Been a while since I’ve seen it so clearly.” 

“The wonder of clairvoyance and mind reading.” Wanda smirked. “Anytime, Zee. Now, I believe I was promised stroganoff and to meet Nat’s...parents?” 

“Oh yeah, Melina and Alexei, technically I think they’re her adoptive parents I have no idea. But she calls them Mom and Dad and I call them my homies.” 

“No you don’t.” Wanda flicked her. 

“No I don’t.” Daisy said with a sigh. “Imagine if I did though?” 

“You would get a knife in your hand, паук, now come on, we have to pick up Yelena on the way.” Nat interrupted them. Daisy sighed and offered a hand to Wanda to help her off the forest floor. Daisy immediately went over to her mom and took her hand, still keeping up the close contact she’d established again in the hospital. Wanda took her other hand. 

“Haven’t seen her in a while, how is Auntie Lena?” Daisy smiled, feeling a lot lighter than she had about two hours ago. Burning the Red Room was always a soul cleanser, but getting all the stuff about her childhood out helped as well. 

Wanda grinned at their antics as Nat chased Daisy back to the car for calling her the “much older sister” than Yelena. The shadows of what happened just three weeks ago still hung over them heavily, but she felt or at least she hoped, they could get through it together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have never written the words “widow’s are marble, widow’s do not break” so many times in my life omg 
> 
> hope yall are still enjoying this lmao it’s been going for a while now, let me know!


	48. Our Life Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie and Pietro, Piper and Kate, Daisy and Yelena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another weird mix of fluff and angst and also sad because the kids are mourning okay 
> 
> WARNINGS: mourning, nightmares, grief

“Come here.” Pietro stood at the edge of the bed in Robbie’s room, hands on his hips. Robbie raised an eyebrow at the blonde, dressed in a pair of Robbie’s boxers because they were black and Pietro wore coloured ones, and...was that one of Daisy’s shirts? Yeah, it was, it had Morse-Romanoff printed on the back. 

Ugh, Robbie was so in love with this dumb, pretty boy it made want to barf. 

“Since when did you get all dominant?” Robbie smiled, but he crawled to Pietro anyway. Pietro smiled and ran his fingers through Robbie’s hair, pulling him in for a kiss. 

“Just wanted to tell you that I love you.” Pietro said when they broke apart. Robbie’s eyebrow went up again. 

“I already know that. I love you too.” Robbie said, trying to go in for another kiss but Pietro turned his head so Robbie got his cheek instead. 

“Let me paint your nails.” Pietro said and Robbie let out a deep sigh. His nails had been every colour of the rainbow in the last month and Gabe was already teasing him for not bringing Pietro sooner. 

“Again?” 

“You know you love it.” Pietro smirked, pushing Robbie slightly so he fell back on the bed and went over to the desk to grab the small box of nail polish they had stolen from the girls. The only ones who painted their nails regularly was Lila, Wanda and- 

Scarlett. 

Robbie rubbed his eyes to get rid of the visions of Lottie, Wanda, Pietro and Trip painting their nails whilst watching Dirty Dancing and 10 Things I Hate About You, which was quite possibly the most stereotypical pamper night he’d ever heard of. Him, Daisy and Lila had teased them for weeks about it, but then they got teased when they spent a night playing COD and watching all of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. 

“You okay, baby?” Pietro asked softly, having chosen a bottle and bringing it back over to the bed. 

“I miss Lottie.” He whispered. Pietro sighed tiredly and tucked himself around his boyfriend. It was hitting them all hard, Piper had phoned crying at least twice, no one had heard from Lincoln, Trip was in some therapy retreat in the fucking Himalayas after he had a bad night and tried to swallow a bunch on pills, Sharon only just catching him in time. 

They were all a mess, but most of them weren’t alone, which didn’t make it easier to deal, just slightly better to bear. 

“I know.” Pietro said softly, brushing away Robbie’s tears with his thumbs. “I miss them too.” 

“What colour did you choose?” Robbie asked, his voice still thick with tears. He groaned when Pietro held up a bottle of red. “Again? That’s the third time, babe.” 

“You look great in it, baby.” Pietro winked. 

“Gabe will never let us live this down.” Robbie pretty much whined. Pietro smiled and took Robbie’s hands in his, massaging the harsh callouses. 

“I’ll make it worth your while.” Pietro teased. 

“Oh, will you now?” 

“Uh huh...” 

“Fine.” Robbie sighed. “I’m expecting cuddles later.” 

“Anything for you, darling.” 

* * *

“Pipes? Piper! Wake up!” Kate said loudly, gripping Piper’s wrists so they would wake up. Piper woke with a start, tears streaming down their face, calling out a sharp “Davis!” before turning to Kate. 

“Katie?” They whispered, flashes of Davis with a bullet in his head and Lila falling off the roof and Daisy moving his body with a bloody shoulder and war in her eyes and- 

“Piper, _breathe_.” Kate’s voice cuts through the fog of memories from a month ago, the guns and bombs and crying fading to nothing but their sound machine, the white noise in the background because Kate couldn’t sleep without it. 

Piper took a few deep breaths, helped with Kate’s gentle pushing and eventually, the world came back into focus. 

“Hey.” They said, a little weakly but Kate smiled anyway. 

“Hi, honey.” Kate said, pulling Piper into her lap, rubbing circles on their back like she always did. Nightmares were common, they were SHIELD after all. 

“You said you would use me as target practice if I said sorry for this again, so I love you?” Piper said, playing with the ends of Kate’s hair and feeling all of five years old. Their mom used to hold them like this after nightmares, back then they were about losing their parents to missions, turns out they should have been worried about losing them to hate instead. 

“I love you too, baby.” Kate whispered, Piper’s legs looping around her waist so she tucked her legs up to sit cross-cross, pulling Piper even closer to her. 

“Los extraño.” (I miss them.) Piper whispered into Kate’s hair, trying not to cry again. They knew that out of all of the Legacies, they were one of the ones taking it the hardest, along with Lincoln and Trip. It made sense, they were the ones closest to those who died, lovers or blood family. It didn’t mean that the others weren’t mourning obviously, just that thy had deeper connections that had been severed. 

“Yo sé.” (I know.) Kate said just as quietly. “Pero todavía están aquí.” (But they’re still here.) 

“Huh?” Their brain wasn’t quite working full speed, they were emotionally burnt out and tired. 

“Here.” Kate tapped Piper’s head. “Here.” Their heart. “They don’t just disappear, baby, we keep them with us.” 

“What fortune cookie did you pull that out of?” 

“Me and Jules watched Beaches a couple months ago and cried so much I nearly barfed. So, we went and found all the sad movies we could. I can’t believe you didn’t even realise, we couldn’t see properly for like two days our eyes were so puffy.” Kate explained, a laugh evident in her voice. 

“I thought you just took an allergic reaction to something. Beaches, huh?” Piper smiled a little, because that story was so ridiculous that it could only happen to Kate and Jules. 

“Don’t judge me. Barbara Heshey’s death in that movie hit me hard.” 

“Aww, my lil emotional baby.” Piper crooned, earning them a playful slap from Kate. “I’ll protect you from the big bad sad movie.” 

“Fuck you.”

“You wish.” 

“Wanna bet?” Kate flipped them so she was on top. “Green?”

“Green. So green, green as fucking leaves in spring.” 

* * *

“Здравствуй моя любимая племянница.” (Hello my favourite niece.) Yelena said as she came out on the deck. Daisy was sitting on the railing, flipping a knife. 

“Auntie Lena.” Daisy smiled in greeting, still fidgeting with her knife. 

“How are you, маленькая вдова?” (little widow) Yelena asked, mirroring Daisy’s position. 

“Better.” The last time she saw Yelena, she was just back from HYDRA and Lena was trying to get her to tell her what happened. She’d grown up a lot since then. 

“That’s good, маленькая вдова. Still going into SHIELD?” 

“You’re not getting me to leave SHIELD to be a merc with you, Lena.” Daisy laughed. Technically, she could go anywhere when she’d graduated, she had offers. CIA, FBI, MI5, mercenary work, but she wanted to stick with the people who saved her, her family. She owed the a lot, this was how she could pay that back. 

“Shame, I got Bucky to come on a few jobs with me, your mama did a few.” Yelena said. “You’re good, Zee, you’ve got options.” 

“I know, but SHIELD is my home. I’ve bled and killed for them now, I’ve lost people to them. My family is SHIELD, Lena, I can’t leave that behind.” 

“Just remember that it shouldn’t be your whole life. SHIELD isn’t a life, it’s a job. HYDRA and the Red Room already stole your childhood-“ 

“I know, Lena. But this is what I want, I want a Strike Team and I want to destroy all the bad people out there that stole our lives away.” Daisy cut her off. She knew all that, she knew what to expect from a life with SHIELD, she’d grown up with it. She’d lived without seeing one or both of her moms for weeks or months at a time, she’d lived underground for most of her life, secrets and “classified” and relationships breaking down. She knew all of that and she’d embraced it, this was going to be her life, the one thing she got to choose. 

“Okay, маленькая вдова, as long as you know what you’re setting yourself up for. Now, tell me all about this Lila and when we get to meet her.” 


	49. What More Could You Want?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice cream, hair dye and anime. What more could you want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is so long i’m sorry and it’s not even like important stuff? it’s mainly just fluff of them hanging out 
> 
> again shoutout to innertimetraveldetective because yes, hair dye = trauma coping 
> 
> WARNINGS: occasional mention of depression, grief 
> 
> Enjoy(because this is actually pretty fluffy)! -bex xx

“We need a self-care night.” Daisy announced, walking into the common room that the Legacies had claimed this summer. They’d gotten to the point where none of them wanted to be alone, so they’d brought through mattresses and comforters and blankets and stuffed animals and whatever else they found when they raised the supply closet and set up shop in a disused common room. They even had a kitchenette in here, which meant that they didn’t really leave here a whole lot, unless it was for the bathroom, therapy, training, to actually see the outside or get a slight break from the others. 

“Isn’t that what we do every night?” Jules laughed. None of them were complaining about the arrangements, they actually enjoyed them at this point. Everything was a lot more difficult to deal with by yourself. 

“You know what I mean. We’ll talk about therapy and the SHIELD gossip, watch anime, eat ice cream or whatever else we can find and probably end up dyeing our hair.” Daisy said, sitting with her legs tucked under her. 

“Oh, let’s do that, please.” Darcy said excitedly, practically dragging the rest of the Legacies over from where they’d been playing poker. 

Well, playing for third place, (i don’t know how poker works) Lila and Daisy already cleared the game. Strike Team Delta kids played dirty. 

“What anime will I put on?” Lila called from the laptop in the corner, which had a bunch of streaming services on it, thanks to Darcy and Daisy, hacking duo of the century. 

“Sailor Moon.” Someone called out. 

“No way, Attack on Titan.” 

“Seriously? Lil, put on My Neighbour Totoro!” 

“Absolutely not! We’re all gay here, put on Yuri on Ice!!!” 

“Can you just decide please?” Lila said exasperatedly. 

“Wait! We haven’t watched Free! yet, Lila put that one on.” Jules made the decision for them or they would have been here all night. Lila selected the first episode and set up the projector, the anime playing on the wall. She hobbled back over to the little nest they had built and very carefully to avoid hitting her casted leg on anything, sat down next to Daisy. 

“Okay, so anime’s on, now we need ice cream. Wait, does anyone want drinks?” Daisy asked, after helping Lila get comfy, stood up and headed to the small kitchenette. It was a bit of a mess, they were teenagers after all. There was a stack of dishes that someone would do at some point, the trash needed emptying, the fridge was pretty stocked with snacks and drinks at this point. Daisy sighed and grabbed the trash bag. No time like the present. “You can get it yourselves then, we should probably pretend we’re all somewhat functioning.” 

“Says the one who spent most of the last eight years in therapy.” Darcy grumbled, and Lila just caught the knife that was heading for Darcy’s head. 

“Darcy’s on dishwashing duty.” Lila announced, tucking Daisy’s blade into the blankets so she could give it back. Darcy scowled and turned back to watch the anime, using Wanda’s legs as a pillow and clutching a fish squishmallow to her chest. Jules and Darcy had arrived at the Playground two weeks ago and two days later, the group was taking a trip to the nearest toy store and Target to find the squishmallow stuffed animals, because they and to quote Daisy, “were the ultimate trauma recovery technique”. Now they had twenty five between them. 

“You all suck.” Darcy moaned, only to receive three raised eyebrows and three smirks in her direction. “Seriously.” 

“You love us Lewis.” Lila teased. 

“You’re all just part of my plan to take over the universe.” Darcy sighed. “My evil minions.” 

“Oh yeah sure, because you’re the leader of the free world, Darce.” Jules giggled. 

“Whatever. Where’s Morse-Romanoff with the ice cream and vodka?” 

“Look up.” Daisy said from the vent above them, startling everyone but Lila and Lincoln. Lila because she was used to this and had practically lived into those vents with Daisy for a lot of their childhood, and Lincoln because he barely knew what day it was, never mind what was happening round about him. 

“I didn’t mean alcohol.” Daisy continued. “I brought coke, fanta, sprite, uh something that looks like grape soda and Monster Energy.” Daisy dropped down from the vent with a practiced ease, to this day she never made a sound. She was carrying a backpack full of cans and bottles and sure enough, three tubs of ice cream at the bottom and spoons. 

“We don’t deserve you, Romanoff.” Jules said, grabbing a fanta and a spoon. “Why no alcohol though, it’s not like you.” 

“Well Sparky over there got drunk decided to wrap a car around a tree and nearly set the thing on fire with his powers which is why he’s here.” Daisy said, but her voice held concern. She’d been the one waiting for Lincoln to wake up in the med-bay, leg shaking and her fingers aching from playing with tangle toys for hours. She hated it there, and she’d just gotten her bandages off completely from her surgery. So to be back there, waiting for one of her best friends who she hadn’t even heard from for nearly two months was killing her. 

“We all handle our trauma in different ways.” Lincoln said tiredly from his little cocoon. He’d claimed a corner spot on the mattresses, wrapping himself up in Joey’s hoodie and Joey’s favourite comforter, it still smelled like him if Lincoln tried hard enough to find the scent of his dead fiancé. “You’d know, Dais.” 

“Which is exactly why we’re doing this. What colour are we doing, Pikachu?” Daisy came over to Lincoln and sent a wave of vibrations through him, not to hurt him or anything, just enough for him to know she was there. He smiled slightly, looking at the boxes she held in her hands. 

“Let’s do blue. You know, go with the whole theme I’ve got going on.” Lincoln decided. Daisy grinned and started unwrapping the layers Lincoln had created, even though it was late July. They always kept it cold in the Playground though, something almost of the Brits liked to complain about. 

“All right. Who else is getting their hair dyed?” Daisy asked the rest of the group. 

“Haven’t gone purple in a while.” Jules said, playing with the ends of her hair. “Let’s do purple ends.” 

“Green looks like fun.” Darcy said. 

“Red.” Lila called immediately, causing the others to groan. “What?” 

“You always go red nowadays, Lil.” Wanda laughed. “I want blue.” 

“I just wanna be a redhead okay, Jules got lucky in the genetic lottery.” Lila defended. 

“Like Daisy’s mom?” Trip teased, and Lila hit him. 

“That’s just weird. She’s my aunt dude.” 

“Wouldn’t that make Zee your cousin then?” He countered with a smirk. This time it was Daisy who hit him. 

“Fuck off dude, we’re not going down that road. Me and Lila aren’t related at all, our parents are just best friends.” She said, opening the box of dye so she could do Lincoln’s hair. “I’m going blonde by the way.” 

“Whatever you say.” Trip said. 

“What about you, Wolfie? What colour are you going?” Jules asked. They’d started calling him Wolfie because he’d showed up to class one day in a wolf shirt. He’d claimed it was Robbie’s but Robbie threw yoghurt at him and told him he’d burn him with the Ghost Rider if he ever made accusations like that again. Neither of them had lived it down. 

“Should we do that thing where we dye it white? Like we did in Junior Academy?” Daisy asked. Trip nodded excitedly. The retreat had actually helped him clear his head a bit and being with his friends like this helped keep him out of the dark spiral he had gone in to. 

They all grabbed boxes of dye or bleach and moved over to the kitchen area so it wasn’t as messy and they had a surface with the long table. It was kind of like one of those hair braiding circles you see in those old teen movies, except there was hair dye and kids with depression instead. 

“So tell me, how is therapy going for everyone?” Daisy asked, coating Lincoln’s hair with blue dye. Lila was bleaching hers behind her, she didn’t really trust a whole lot of people to do stuff whilst her back was turned, even some of her closest friends. Lila, Robbie, Jules and Wanda were the only ones that could. 

“Shit.” Was somehow called out by everyone at the one time. 

“They said that some of us are handling it better than others.” Jules said. “Namely Daisy and me apparently.” 

“Oh yeah, they’re calling it a “defining moment” for me.” Daisy said sarcastically. “Passed my psych eval though for the first time in like, ever.” 

“I thought they called being brought into SHIELD a “defining moment.” Trip piped up. 

“Or being kidnapped by HYDRA.” Darcy added. 

“Which time?” Lincoln said. 

“The second, douchebag.” Daisy poked him in the back, so he made an electric shock go through her. She gasped and sent a quake through him so he toppled over and then he was glaring at her from the floor. She gave him a hand up and he sat back in his chair so she could finish putting the dye on. 

“So what? All those made you a better agent?” Lila said, bringing them back to the conversation. 

“Yup. They want me on a Strike Team for the last year. Reserve team mainly, but I’ll get to train with them and go on a mission at some point.” Daisy said, a smile dancing across her face. 

But something in Lila’s stomach did a backflip. Daisy being on a Strike Team meant that there was a very real possibility that she could get hurt, possibly even die. She’d be in the field, away from where Lila could watch her, fighting god knows what. Daisy might have passed a psych eval but they all knew how reckless she was with her own life. And look, Lila was happy for her of course, this was what Daisy wanted, but it didn’t stop the cold feeling of fear creeping down her back. 

They’d already lost Davis, Joey and Lottie, Lila didn’t think she could lose anyone else. 

But Daisy looked so happy right now, laughing with the others about moving on to the big leagues and arm wrestling Darcy for the last Monster Energy, which of course Daisy won, that Lila didn’t want to say anything. What could she say, “sorry baby I know a Strike Team has been your dream since you were twelve but I’m scared to lose you so please don’t go”? Lila couldn’t put that on her, not when Daisy was finally doing okay. 

It was weird how they’d all suddenly switched roles. Lila was the one waking up from nightmares more often than not, sliding next to Daisy on whatever mattress they’d claimed that night. She dreamed of falling and not being caught, of being shot just like Lottie, of not waking up in that hospital bed, of Daisy not waking up from surgery. It was always too much and too loud and she hated it, so Daisy would carry her up to the roof and they’d sit there and watch the stars, signing to each other long into the early hours of the morning. The world felt right in those hours, when everyone else was asleep and they were the only people in the universe. 

But she could lose that. And she didn’t want to. 

“What are you thinking about, butterfly?” Daisy signed to her, breaking her out of that thought spiral. 

“What if something happened to you on the field?” Lila signed back, worry creeping over Daisy’s face. The others had moved back to the living area to let their dyes develop and watch Free!. 

“We knew this would happen one day. I’m on reserve for now, and I’m pretty hard to kill. I will always try to come back to you, butterfly.” Daisy signed, a silent promise between the two that had been there since they were nine and ten years old. 

“I’m just scared you won’t.” Lila admitted. 

“I know.” Daisy signed. “But I’m big and scary. Makes me pretty invincible.” 

“Big and scary?” Lila questioned with a smirk. 

“Uh huh.” Daisy giggled. 

“You’re five inches shorter than me.” Lila laughed, and Daisy kissed her just to shut her up, even though they weren’t speaking. Lila giggled into the kiss and someone shouted “get a room” so Daisy full on straddled Lila just to make them all uncomfortable. 

“Break it up, break it up.” Darcy cried, covering her eyes. Jules sighed and looked at Wanda, who raised an eyebrow but understood. She used her powers to levitate Daisy off of Lila and bring her back to the living area. 

“No fair. I didn’t see her for a month guys.” Daisy pouted when she was very carefully dropped back onto the mattresses. Lila just looked confused. 

“You two wanna make up for lost time them please do it somewhere else, some of us are lonely and single.” Jules laughed. 

“We’ll keep it PG.” Lila sighed. The timers for their dye went off. “Rinse time.” 

“Any SHIELD gossip then?” Darcy asked, whilst Lila used the extendable tap to rinse the dye off Lincoln’s hair. 

“Coulson and May are getting married apparently. Fitzsimmons are pregnant. Peter’s starting the Academy this year.” Lila supplied. 

“My moms finally set a date for the wedding.” Daisy said. 

“About time.” Trip laughed. 

“Yup, June 17th next year, you’re all invited.” Daisy smiled. 

“This is our last year of the Academy, how weird is that?” Lincoln said, closing his eyes to stop getting water or dye in them but also so no one saw the tears. He and Joey were supposed to get married next year. He felt Lila squeeze his shoulder with the hand that wasn’t holding the tap. She knew and that was okay. 

“Guys we’re like, adults now.” Darcy sighed. 

“Jules and Daisy are still babies though.” Trip laughed, so Jules sprayed water in his face without even touching the tap. 

“04’s united okay, don’t complain when you’re all old and we look great.” She said, her and Daisy high-fiving. 

“Is there still ice cream left?” Darcy cut in. “Oh and we should get tattoos.” Everyone nodded or said their approval to that one, knowing they’d do it the first time they set foot in whatever town the Academy was in in England 

“Lincoln’s done, who’s next?” Lila said. And that was how their night continued, they all had different coloured hair by the end and they’d made it through the entire first season of Free! and like, six tubs of ice cream though they’d never tell anyone that. They ended up in a sharing circle at some point, talking about anything and everything and it felt safe. It felt like home. 


	50. Ink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New town, new campus, same friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i lowkey hate this chapter because it’s so messy and also really late lmfao sorry but they get tattoos! 
> 
> also the tats are really sappy and sentimental and shit but they just really love each other okay? they are a family and i love them 
> 
> also thanks to innertimetraveldetective for the tattoo idea that i stole :) 
> 
> WARNINGS: minor mentions of past traumas, grief 
> 
> (also robbie calls pietro “Tro” in this chapter and probs in further chapter just in case anyone’s like who tf is Tro idk lmao)
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“Make sure you bring a sweater!” Lila called to the boys through the open window as they walked past their dorms, boxes and suitcases and bags still piled outside. 

They were in separate buildings for the first time in four years. At the Academy campus in Plymouth, England, the girls and boys were separated by buildings, (which had not gone over well with Piper but they’d been put in a dorm with Kate, Wanda and a girl from their Ops class, America Chavez, so it was fine.) so they were all in mourning for living together. 

Well, on top of the other people they were mourning. 

“You’re in England now babe, it’s a jumper.” Jules said indignantly. Daisy ruffled her hair and Jules rolled her eyes. She’d been almost insufferable now they were back on “her soil”, correcting grammar and etiquette and delighting in the fact that they all had to eat proper British food now. 

“I don’t care what it’s called, as long as it keeps me warm.” Lila shrugged, so of course Daisy pulled off her hoodie and handed it to her. Lila took it gratefully and put it on, smiling as she breathed in Daisy’s shampoo and laundry detergent from home. 

“Sup fuckers.” Daisy greeted as the boys caught up with them, immediately jumping Robbie and clinging to him like a monkey. They hadn’t seen Robbie and Pietro or Kate and Piper all summer, which was a practical record at this point for the Legacies. 

Robbie smiled and cuddled Daisy closer. They might have called nearly every day, but he missed her and Lila the most. The twins practically melted into one being once they reunited as Daisy got off of Robbie and Lila took her turn to hug him. 

“Alright, yall can catch up later, we have an appointment.” Trip called, otherwise they’d be here all day. 

“How did you even get the shop to agree to take us all?” Darcy asked as they left the campus and headed down the dirt track to town. 

“We phoned and said “hi we’re the kids of Black Widow and Hawkeye, would you able to do seventeen tattoos?” and they were like “oh, okay, sure. Anything for kids of the Avengers.” Apparently they had a werewolf problem or something a while ago that the Avengers stopped.” Lila explained, shrugging. Sometimes it paid to have superhero parents. 

“Wait, seventeen? There’s only eleven of us.” Jules says. 

“Some people are getting extra tats.” Robbie said. “I’m getting one for Tro, he’s getting one for me.” 

“I’m getting one for Kate.” Piper added. 

“I’m nervous enough for one, I love you Pipes but I’m not getting one for you babe.” Kate laughed. 

“I’m getting one for Zee.” Lila says, Daisy's hand in hers. 

“I’m getting two extra ones, cos I’m yknow, badass.” Daisy said. And then, five seconds later. “Look guys! Duck pond!” 

“Ah yes, a badass.” Kate smirked, earning a leaf quaked in her face. She spat it out and started chasing Daisy along the path, even going as far as to swing through the trees. 

“Remind me how they’re top of Ops?” Jules asked to Trip who shrugged. 

“Witchcraft.” He suggested. 

* * *

“Can I ask the meaning behind the tattoos?” One of the artists, (they had four different artists working at once because of the sheer number of tattoos they were doing, however they were small so it wasn’t too much hassle) asked. It was the one working on Lila, but they all flinched. 

“Uh, we had some friends pass away in April. We wanted them to remember them.” Lila explained quietly, refusing to take her eyes off the ceiling so she wouldn’t see the pity in her artist’s, Marianna, eyes. The look they’d all come to know and loathe in adults eyes, the intake of breath before the inevitable “I’m so sorry”, the head nod. Like they understood. Like they knew what that pain was like, to lose three at once, to lose your fiancé and best friends in one day, to watch your friend’s cradle their lovers bodies. 

They didn’t understand, they never understood. It’s why they stuck together now, it was just easier. 

“What language is it?” Marianna asks instead, and something in her eyes when Lila actually turns her head says that maybe she did understand. 

“Russian. The only words any of us will probably ever understand apart from our little Russian over there.” Lila nodded to Daisy who was sitting with her legs tucked under her on the floor. Her hands fidgeted nervously with a tangle toy and she had noise-cancelling headphones on, blasting music. There was a lot of noise and vibrations in here, and needles were literally one of her worst fears, and though she was doing a lot better, she still had her issues. 

“Black Widow’s daughter right?” Marianna asked, and Lila nodded. She liked that Marianna kept talking it kept her mind off the slight pain on her inner left wrist. They were all getting their tattoo here. Easy enough to conceal if they needed to go undercover, easy enough to look at if they needed to. “Never knew she had a kid.” 

“None of the Avengers kids are publicised. Daisy’s adopted anyway.” Lila said, Daisy catching her eye and smiling encouragingly. 

“And you’re Hawkeye’s daughter?” Marianna continued. “Oh, this bit might hurt, honey.” 

“It’s fine.” Lila blushed a little, only Daisy called her that after an incredibly awkward conversation with Jules if they could steal it that neither Lila nor Jules wanted to have, but apparently Daisy was all about communication nowadays. The girl spent too much time with Wanda over summer if that was what she was saying. “But yeah, I’m Hawkeye’s kid.” 

“Must have been cool growing up.” Marianna said, finishing the last number. 

“It was kinda normal to be honest.” Lila winced slightly as the needle went over a particularly sensitive area of skin. 

“All done. Keep them covered and clean, they should be healed by next week.” Marianna smiled, sitting back in her chair, cleaning off the tattoo gun. Lila inspected her wrist, the dark ink mesmerising her. She sat up to look at the one on her ankle, the dots and dashes a code only she and anyone with a code book could read. 

**Джоуи(Joey)**   
**Дэвис (Davis)**   
**Скарлетт (Scarlett) 27/04/21**

Three dead friends names and the day they died. A tattoo in a language only one of them spoke, the black ink on matching wrists to bond them all forever. A way for them to never forget. 

**.. .-.. .-.. / .- .-.. .-- .- -.-- ... / -.-. --- -- . / -... .- -.-. -.- (I’ll always come back)**

A promise made a hundred times but Lila needed it ingrained in her skin to believe it. Daisy grins as she reads it on her ankle, signing a quick “I promise” before getting in the chair herself. 

“First tattoo?” Marianna smiled as Daisy got comfortable. Daisy flinched as memories of a HYDRA agent and a black 7 flash in her mind. The first or second mind wipe, before the tracker was put in, a tattoo gun on her thigh, a hand holding her down, but she still screamed as loud as she could before they wiped her and she forgot how to scream. It didn’t even hurt that much, but the branding, making her their property, that was ached in her soul. Daisy breathes out and closes her eyes. 

“Not exactly.” She murmurs. 

“You sure you’ll be okay getting all three today?” Marianna noticed the subtle change in demeanour, the anxiety rising but not at the needles or the pain or any of the usual fears. This was deeper rooted than that, not like the brunette girl with glasses in the corner practically crying with the pain. 

Thank god Darcy was Sci-Tech. 

“No, I’d rather get them done now.” Daisy says, opening her eyes again and concentrating hard on the ceiling, reciting every alphabet, number system, and constellation she knew in every language she knew under her breath. Marianna got to work. 

Four hours later, the Legacies walked out of Gilded Cage Tattoo Parlour and Piercing, matching wrap on their wrists. 

“Let’s not do that again for a while yeah?” Darcy asked weakly. Her friends laughed and they headed down the street to the McDonald’s. Milkshakes sounded good right now. 

“So people who got extra tats, what did you get?” Lincoln asked, finger tracing Joey’s name in Cyrillic on his wrist, ring glinting in the setting sun. 

“I’ve got an arrow down my spine.” Piper said. “Original, I know.” 

“I think it’s hot.” Kate giggled, a little drunk on this feeling. This was the first time all summer that they had all hung out, and everyone was at least a little happy. 

“I got Pietro’s birthday.” Robbie said. 

“And I got Robbie’s name in Sokovian.” Pietro smiled. 

“Guys what are we gonna do if we like, break up the band or something?” Jules asked. 

“We’ve been through too much to ever break up completely. We’re bonded now whether yall like it or not.” Daisy stated, the others nodding their approval. They were family now, nothing could change that. 

“Oh yeah, I got morse code on my ankle.” Lila brought them back to their tattoos before they all went into McDonalds crying or something, they were all very emotional right now and Lila suspected that SHIELD wanted to keep the people of Plymouth relatively unscarred from the kids of SHIELD. 

“And I got morse code on my ribs. Oh, and some dates on my side. Daisy tugged up her shirt a little to show the new ink.

**-.. --- -. - / -.. .. . / --- ..- - / - .... . .-. . (Don’t die out there)**

Another promise, this time to keep herself safe so she could come home to Lila. 

The dates made no sense to anyone but her. 

**05/07/06** \- the day her bio parents died. 

**09/12/08** \- the day she had to kill Anya, the first of many people she couldn’t save. 

**17/05/12** \- the day she was taken into SHIELD. 

**23/10/12** \- the day she met Lila. 

**10/09/19** \- the day she started the Academy. 

There was another tattoo that they all decided to get last minute. It lies beneath the date on their memorial tattoos for Joey, Davis and Scarlett. 

**longest way round is the shortest way home**


	51. Burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy finds Lincoln on the roof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a short chapter but please be careful with it, it’s kinda triggering 
> 
> lincoln’s really going thru it :( 
> 
> WARNINGS: suicide attempts, suicidal thoughts, intrusive thoughts, grief, depression, self-hatred, alcohol
> 
> like i said, be careful 
> 
> -bex xx

“Bit late for this isn’t it?” Daisy asks as she sits down next to Lincoln on the roof. She’d been out running, exploring the new campus and trying to ignore the bright lights and vibrations of bad days, when she’d spied Lincoln on the roof. 

“You gonna join me or just judge me?” Lincoln threw back, taking another swig of the vodka he’d taken from the kitchen in the dorms. 

Everything just felt wrong to him today. Like he shouldn’t be here. Like it should have been him to get shot in the chest, his name on his friends wrists. 

_You should have been the one to die. Joey died protecting you, and here you are like a worthless piece of shit. He’d be so fucking disappointed, you fucking waste of space, you-_

“Linc, get back.” Daisy grabs onto his hand and he flinches, the voice in his head that has taken root after Joey was ripped from his arms and his life, an empty gap filled with intrusive thoughts and alcohol and burning his legs with the electricity he could control. 

“Lincoln, please, get back from the edge.” Daisy begs, pulling him back from the edge of the roof he hadn’t even realised he was standing on, dangerously close to falling and letting the world go quiet, still. No more voices, no more gaps, no more burning in his throat as he threw back another shot so he could feel something again. 

“For god’s sake, Linc, I’m not letting you die today!” Daisy pulls him all the way to the middle of the roof, he’d have to run if he wanted to escape her and Daisy’s a lot faster than him. 

_Weak. You weak little boy, if you really wanted to do it you wouldn’t care if she caught you. You’re a coward, that’s why Joey’s dead, you weren’t enough to save him-_

“Stop it!” He screams, sparks flying from his hands, the bottle smashing and Daisy gasping. Tears stream from his eyes and the sparks burn his eyes, the bright lights blinding until darkness encroaches. 

There’s quiet. There’s stillness. He opens his eyes slowly, cautiously, afraid of what he’ll see, but the voice in his head has gone quiet for the first time in a long time. Maybe he’s died, maybe it’s finally over. 

“ _Трахать..._ ” (Fuck...) Daisy whimpers, an echo of four months ago in a hospital bed. Lincoln turns his head to find where the whimper came from, Daisy’s body lying crumpled in a heap against the brick chimney. There’s a cut on her cheek and her clothes are scorched. 

What has he done? How could he hurt Daisy like that? Daisy, one of his best friends, who waited for him in the med-bay, who held him when he cried over Joey, who he sparred with, who dyed his hair, who teased him for not being able to hold his drink, who was there? 

_Maybe they’ll all leave you now, you’ve hurt the one who means the most. She’ll never forgive you, and what will Lila say? What will Trip say? Maybe you should just jump now, it’ll be easier, they’ll never forgive you, never forgive you, never forgive you, never-_

“If you jump off the fucking roof, I’ll bring you back to life to kill you myself.” Daisy groans, moving slowly once shes worked out that she doesn’t have a concussion. Her back is gonna bruise like all hell tomorrow, her cheek will probably scar and she really liked these leggings but oh well, Lincoln’s more important right now. 

“Zee...I’m so sorry.” Lincoln sobs, running over to her. He helps her into a sitting position and checks her over. No lasting damage apart from her cheek, she’s mainly just shaken up. They both are. 

“It was an accident.” Daisy says firmly. “You didn’t mean it. I’m not mad, Linc.” 

“I hurt you, Zee.” Lincoln whispers. 

“I’ve been hurt by worse, Sparky. You’re in pain and everything got too much and it’s okay. I forgive you, Lincoln, I forgive you.” Daisy promises, pulling Lincoln into a tight hug. He shakes and sobs against her, the lights around flickering a little. She just holds him closer. 

“It’s so hard, Zee. I miss him so fucking much, and it’s so hard.” Lincoln stutters, still choked with sobs. 

“I know, Linc. But it won’t last forever. It’s hard right now and it might hurt forever, but it will get better with time. But you have to keep fighting, we can’t lose you too.” Daisy says, making him look her in the eyes. Lincoln nods, a silent promise between them. His eyes trace the cut on her cheek, the warm blood still trailing down her face, but she taps his chin to get his eyes back to hers. “Promise me. I want to hear it. You come to me if it gets like this again.” 

“I promise.” 

“Good. Now, Doctor Campbell, wanna stitch me up?” Lincoln laughs as he hauls her up, their left wrists connecting the ink that connects them to each other. 

“Thanks Zee. I love you.” He says, and the weight doesn’t feel any lighter, Joey’s death still casts a long shadow darker than that ink, but it doesn’t feel like he’s alone. The voice in his head will be back, but he’s not alone with it. He has people and he has to remember that. 

“Love you too, Pikachu. But can we make a rule that we don’t throw each other into walls unless we’re sparring?” Daisy says. 

“Rule number 67 now established.” He says and she laughs. 

“I’ll get Lila to add it to the list.” 


	52. And The Dog Makes 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Legacies get a dog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally what it says on the tin, they now have a dog and i love him 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“Is this necessary?” Darcy complained as the others got comfortable in the girls common room in the Victoria Dorm, (named after Victoria Hand, may she rest in peace and Queen Victoria, may she also rest in peace). Lila, Robbie and Pietro formed a cuddle pile, Trip was sitting beside them with a weighted blanket and tea, (he had a cold), Wanda and Jules were sitting on the floor, Kate was sitting in Piper’s lap and Piper was playing with her hair, and Lincoln was also under a weighted blanket on the edge of the couch. Daisy and Darcy stood in front of the coffee table, the small bundle still in their arms. 

“Yes, because you two have taken “be gay, do crime” to heart, so you must present your case to the jury.” Jules said, lightly banging the little gavel they had procured from god knows where in the table. “Court is now in session.” 

“Technically, we didn’t commit a crime.” Daisy defended, her arms full of blanket and dog. “He was abandoned.” 

“Present your case to the jury, Daisy Skye Barbara Natasha Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova Morse-Romanoff and Darcy Dorothy Annabel Trixie Mattel Nancy Reagan Angelica Schuyler Lewis.” Jules banged the gavel again and about six people flinched. She mumbled a quick “sorry” to everyone and put the gavel away. 

“Okay first of all, none of those are our middle names, and please stop watching Drag Race, Hamilton and Judge Judy. So I was on a run back from ballet and I met Darce, so we went for coffee in town.” Daisy began. 

“I got a cold brew with four espresso shots and Daisy got an iced frappe that she put Red Bull in.” Darcy added helpfully. 

“Họ không cần phải biết rằng!” (They didn’t need to know that!) Daisy glared at her. Darcy threw her hands up defensively. 

“Lila sẽ có thẩm vấn tôi về nó sau này!” (Lila would have interrogated me about it later!) Darcy said. 

“Did anyone know Darcy spoke Korean? Or that Daisy did?” Wanda asked the group. 

“Are we surprised? They shared a room last year and they’ve both got ADHD, they probably learned it in like, a week.” Lila said. 

“ _Anyway_ ,” Daisy said pointedly, bringing everyone back to the point. “We got coffee and were walking back to the Academy, when we heard crying for an alley.” 

“And you know, Daisy was an orphan for a while and I had a borderline-neglectful childhood, so we can sense these things.” Darcy added. “So we went into the alley and in the dumpster was this little guy.” 

Daisy dropped the blanket and there, in her arms, was a very dirty puppy. 

“And since we’ve all recently been through massive trauma, we thought we needed an emotional support animal.” Daisy said, the puppy rubbing its nose against her chin. It probably sensed a kindred spirit or something. 

“Okay, thank you defendants Lewis and Morse-Romanoff. Members of the jury, I ask your opinion.” Jules said, turning to her friends. 

“We’re all students, how are we supposed to take care of a puppy when we can barely look after ourselves?” Lila, ever the sensible one, pointed out. 

“We’ll make a chart for looking after him, Lila excels in preparation, and we need literal emotional support guys, he’s cheaper than therapy.” Daisy said, the puppy still nuzzling her. She’d already fallen in love with the thing and she knew she could probably keep it if she gave them all puppy eyes. 

“That’s why we have squishmallows.” And to prove her point, Wanda pulled out a bee from under the table. 

“Those are necessary.” Trip, Lincoln, Kate and Pietro called together. Each one of them were literally cuddling them. 

“And now we have dog!” Darcy said excitedly, stroking the puppy’s ears so it wiggled happily. And just to help prove their point, the girls brought him over for the Legacies to meet. 

And because the damn puppy was so cute, all floppy ears and soft brown fur, even if it was a little grimy, and big brown eyes that just begged for a home, they immediately softened. 

“I’m voting yes.” Piper said, reaching around Kate to pet the puppy. It rolled over on its back on the couch so they could scratch its belly. 

“I agree.” Lincoln said, the puppy’s tail thumping in excitement at his voice. He smiled for the first time since the roof with Daisy. 

“I have a feeling we’re all in agreement.” Jules said, the others nodding emphatically, the puppy wriggling happily as his little belly was scratched. “Court grants you the puppy, court adjourned, thank you.” 

“You know, you’d be a great lawyer.” Darcy said, grinning madly at the newest member of their family. She’d begged her mom for a dog for years, but the answer was always, “we live in a tiny apartment in Harlem, if we let the dog out it would get made into a hot dog”. 

Like she’s said, weird ass upbringing. 

“What breed even is he?” Robbie asked, shifting Lila slightly so he could get his turn to pet the dog. Lila tumbled onto the floor, and somehow her girlfriend and then the bloody dog ended up on top of her. She sighed, Daisy grinned, and the dog barked happily. 

“Vous avez de la chance que je vous aime tellement, je pensais que le chien était pour la France?” (You’re lucky I love you so much, I thought the dog was for France.) Lila whispered in Daisy’s ear, who grabbed the dog and sat up, settling the happy puppy in her lap, but she was still in Lila’s lap because she was very attached. 

“Je t'ai apporté une partie de un jour, au début.” (I brought you part of someday early.) Daisy smiled back, and Lila can’t help but kiss her. The others groan exasperatedly, but the puppy of course takes precedence so they disconnect their lips and turn back to the others. 

“He’s a Border Terrier.” Daisy says. 

“He needs a name.” Kate says. “And like food and bowls and shit.” 

“Uh, they might already be in our backpacks.” Darcy admits, the discarded backpacks lying by the door did look unusually stuffed. She went over and took out toys and bowls and poop bags and everything a dog could need from the bags. 

“So yall were just planning on keeping him anyway?” Robbie questions, eyebrow raised. 

“No, we just had a really good feeling.” Daisy grins. “Look at him, you can’t say no to this face.” She picks up the puppy just for emphasis and they all practically melt at the puppy eyes. 

“He still needs a name.” Jules points out. 

“What if we just called him Dog?” Kate suggests. “Or like, Cat, for satire?” 

“Those are awful, what about Flash?” Trip vetoes.

”No, we’ve got a German Shepard at the farm called that.” Lila says. “Orion?” 

“Not all of us are star obsessed lesbians.” Lincoln laughs, he gets a middle finger and a “quake ruffle” as they call it nowadays. “Stitch.” 

“No. What about Rex?” Darcy suggests.

“That’s so boring. What about Hemingway?” Wanda tries, but it’s also shot down. 

“Haruhi?” Jules suggests. 

“We’re not naming him after your favourite anime character. How about...uh...Travolta?” Pietro says, scratching the dogs ears affectionately. 

“Guys, what about Ulysses?” Daisy says and that makes the others stop. It’s where their tattoos are from, and those tattoos are the reason they’ve got this dog anyway. 

“Ulysses?” Robbie calls the dog, and it’s ears perk up in excitement, butting his head against Robbie’s palm, tail wagging in Daisy’s lap. 

“Ulysses it is.” Lila says happily, already ordering him a collar and just to get back at Lincoln, it has stars on it. 

“Welcome to the fam, Ulysses Lewis-Morse-Romanoff-Barton-Reyes-Maximoff-Campbell-Triplett-Piper-Bishop-Mannings-Reid-Gutierrez-Davis.” Daisy announces, the last names said a bit softly, finger tapping the black names on her wrist. 

“I don’t think that’ll fit in the character limit.” Lila says. “But it’s perfect.” 


	53. Whilst You Were Sleeping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda and the nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> daisy and wanda are ultimate besties okay i love them 
> 
> WARNINGS: nightmares, mention of domestic abuse, mention of child abuse, arson, drowning, mention of character death
> 
> -bex xx

_A building burns in front of her, the smoke filling her lungs and all she can hear is war. Screams of girls she’s grown up with, gunshots as they are shot dead, the shouts of the people with the eagle on their jackets, the light breaths of the woman as she’s carried away from the wreckage of the only home she’s ever known._

_This isn’t right. Wanda wasn’t here when this happened, this isn’t her dream._

_But she’s stuck in an eight year old Daisy’s body in an unfamiliar woman’s arms, they speak a language she doesn’t fully comprehend, and there’s an all too familiar scream._

_Lila burning in that building and Daisy screams and thrashes but it isn’t real, because she doesn’t know Lila yet so she’s projecting her fears but it doesn’t make it any better. Lila screams again and-_

_The dream changes. She’s falling, down, down, down, and she’s going to hit the concrete soon, the bell tower of the campus in America passing in slow motion as Lila/Wanda falls._

_She’s going to die here. She’s going to hit the concrete and not be able to tell Daisy that she loves her, has always loved her, and France is out there but she won’t see it and she keeps fucking falling and-_

_She’s Piper on the roof, Kate next to them and Davis is being shot and oh god, the blood and they scream together and Daisy’s dragging his body away but it’s too late, he’s dead and the blood and HYDRA and-_

_She’s Darcy, five years old and her dad is leaving. He’s drunk of course, like he always was and he slaps her mom, grabs another beer and just leaves._

_Her mom cries, her cheek bright red and Darcy doesn’t even understand what’s happening. She doesn’t understand why her mom cries, why her dad leaves, why there’s a crash outside or why she stands at a funeral a week later for a man she hated._

_She doesn’t understand any of it but-_

_She’s Jules and her uncle Storm lifts her higher and higher in the water. She squeals, eight year old innocence practically bursting out of her as he throws her higher. His kids play with an inflatable ball with the other men, the women wash the clothes at the edge of the lake._

_But something happens, her daddy shouts something angrily from the shore and Storm drops her unexpectedly._

_Her foot is stuck in some seaweed and she can’t get free, her vision is darkening at the edges and it’s getting harder to breathe. She thrashes but no ones coming and she can still vaguely hear her daddy screaming from the surface but no one has noticed she’s drowning-_

Wanda wakes with a sharp scream, shooting straight up, scarlet tendrils and ghosts fading from the room as she wakes. 

“Hey, you’re okay, dorogaya.” A voice which she quickly associates is Daisy’s says, a hand catching her wrist before she sends something flying or gives someone a trip down someone else’s memory lane. She turns to the younger girl with fear in her eyes and Daisy nods to the door. She nods and Daisy grabs her blanket she got in Sokovia during the summer, her rabbit from when she was little and her anxiety meds, just in case. 

They leave Wanda’s dorm, everyone else still sleeping. Daisy stops by her own dorm to tell Lila where she was going, and grab a comforter and Ulysses, who mainly slept in Daisy’s dorm. Wanda waited a little impatiently in the hall, the dredges of other people’s nightmares still running ragged in her mind. She could still feel the wind as Lila fell, the heat of the fire of the burning Red Room, the water as Jules nearly drowned. It made her skin feel all itchy and she hated it. 

Daisy emerges from her dorm with her comforter, blanket and rubber bracelets and Wanda is still wondering what the hell is going on. Ulysses follows them sleepily down the hall to the common room, Daisy flips on the low lights, installed when SHIELD learned just how many of their kids were traumatised and hated bright lights. 

“Do you want tea, dorogaya?” Daisy only calls her that when she knows it’s been a bad night. They started it in first year, when they talked on the roof. God, that felt so long ago. Wanda nods a little shakily and settles herself on the sofa, Ulysses curling up next to her. She strokes her hand through the soft fur on his back, forming a pattern that helps her regulate her breathing whilst the kettle boiled. Breathe in and stroke up, breathe out and stroke down, repeat. 

“What type? We’ve got English Breakfast, lavender, lemon, Earl Gray? It’s all very British, sorry.” Daisy asks, bringing Wanda back to the present. 

“Uh, chamomile if we have it.” She says, voice faint and fragile. She wants to cry but it doesn’t feel right because it isn’t her pain, it’s not her nightmares. She’s just cursed to see them. 

“Chamomile it is.” Daisy smiles, but Wanda can’t return it. She continues petting Ulysses instead, the puppy yawns and snuggles deeper into her side. The clock reads 02:37. 

“What are you doing up, Zee?” She asks softly, the silence filling the room felt too heavy. 

“Same as you.” Daisy says, putting the tea bag in the mug, willing the kettle to boil faster. She wasn’t even going to drink it, she hated tea, but Wanda needed it. 

“What, you accidentally fell into your friends nightmares and was forced to live it with them?” Wanda deadpans. 

“Okay, not exactly the same as you.” Daisy winces. “Nightmares.” 

“It’s bad enough when they’re my own, but it hurts more when it’s everyone else’s.” The Sokovian accent that had been starting to disappear bit by bit as Wanda spent more time with Americans is back, twisting her words to make them more delicate than she wanted. She hates sounding so weak, she hates having to do any of this. 

But some fucking HYDRA scientist decided to experiment on her and Pietro and now, nine years later she’s still dealing with the fucking fallout. 

The kettle whistles and Daisy grabs it before anyone comes to inspect the noise. She pours the boiling water into Wanda’s cup, a Jean Gray from the X-Men patterned mug that Lottie got her in their secret santa that makes Daisy pause, the smell of chamomile filling the air. Daisy ignores the way the mug almost screams at her, “you could have saved her!”, and concentrated on the task at hand. Compartmentalisation. She can beat up a punch bag later. 

Daish brings the mug and a bottle of water over to the couch and makes herself comfy, sitting opposite Wanda on the couch. Ulysses sits up at the sudden presence and moves to sit between them. She hands Wanda the mug. 

“What happened earlier?” Daisy asks, once Wanda has some hot tea in her. 

“Somehow everyone was having nightmares tonight and it was overloading my brain, I was stuck in all of them with you.” Wanda sighs, shivering slightly as she remembers Darcy’s dream. Darcy never talked about her dad, they didn’t even know he was dead, and now it felt like an invasion of privacy. 

“Do you want to sleep out here tonight then?” Daisy offers. “I’ll stay too if you’d like.” 

“I’d like that a lot.” Wanda smiled softly, the comforter and blankets and everything making a lot more sense now. “Can we shut the door though? It’s easier to block everyone else’s dreams with a solid object in place, as weird as that sounds.” 

“Hey, you’ve got mind powers, I’m not exactly going to argue with the science of them, you’re the one in Sci-Tech.” Daisy grins, but she quakes the door shut anyway. Wanda rolls her eyes and drinks some more of her tea. 

“You were dreaming about Lila in the Red Room again.” Wanda says, making Daisy wince slightly. 

“I know, I dream about that a lot.” Daisy says, her hands playing with the rubber bracelets she sleeps in because it’s actually quite hard to kick the habit of sleeping with your wrist cuffed to the bed. This was her alternative. 

“She was dreaming about falling off the roof again. She dreams about that quite a lot.” Lila was a very vivid dreamer, it was always hard to keep out of her head even though they weren’t in the same room. It’s only gotten worse after HYDRA, especially if Daisy was away training with Strike. 

“I’ll bring her coffee tomorrow morning.” Daisy promises, more to herself than to Wanda. “We’re all kinda messed up now aren’t we?” 

“Yep. But no one said being in SHIELD would be boring.” Wanda laughs, the dark whispers of other people’s nightmares beginning to disappear. 

“You got that right. I defected from Russia just to get caught up in all the SHIELD bullshit.” Daisy groaned, sliding the bracelets onto her wrists. “We should probably get some sleep.” 

“Daisy Morse-Romanoff telling someone to sleep? Have you been abducted by aliens?” Wanda teases. 

“HYDRA? Yes. Aliens? No. Unless America counts when she kidnapped me to go spar. But I know you like to get at least six hours.” Daisy says, throwing a stress ball at the light switch so the lights would turn off. 

“Well not all of us can survive on three.” 

“I’ve managed to cut that down to two, if need be.” Daisy grins at Wanda’s outraged look. “Sleep, dorogaya.” 

“I don’t like you when you’re all nice and soft. I want assassin Daisy back.” Wanda grumbled but she does lie down. 

“Go to sleep now or I’ll put your body somewhere they’ll never find it.” Daisy says, using the tone that makes Lila and Jules practically melt in her hands. Wanda shivers slightly and Daisy rolls her eyes. Good thing Wanda was aroace or they’d have to deal with another fricking bottom getting all antsy when one of them used that tone. 

“That’s more like it. Good night, sestra.” Wanda smiled this time, as she lay down to sleep. 

“Night, Wanda.” Daisy whispers, though she has no intention of sleeping. Too many thoughts and too much time and too much energy. 

The mug taunts her again from its place on the coffee table. 

_You couldn’t save them._

So instead, she’ll save everyone else. 


	54. Let’s Run Away For The Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Lila on their anniversary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just wanted a fluffy daisy/lila chapter lmfao there’s been so much angst but i also hate this chapter so i’m sorry 
> 
> WARNINGS: couple mentions of anxiety 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“Honey, I’m home.” Lila announces her presence in their dorm to Daisy who is sitting with Darcy and Jules on the floor, crowding around Darcy’s laptop. “Whatcha doing?” 

“Hey baby,” Daisy grins, making grabby hands at Lila so she’ll get a kiss. “Plans for tonight.” 

It’s October 23rd, so it’s been exactly nine years since they met, which was disgusting because when did they get so old? Just yesterday Daisy was a tiny, terrified eight year old running away from the farm because she thought she was a monster and now she was a still tiny, strong seventeen year old that Lila dating and would probably marry one day. Just yesterday, Lila was nine years old and too nervous to talk to people that weren’t family and then Daisy walked into her life and everything changed. 

Too much was changing and Lila just wanted it all to slow down so she could keep up. 

She grants Daisy her kiss but the laptop is pulled away and shut before she can see what Daisy has planned. She pouts and Darcy and Jules both laugh at her so Daisy glares until they sigh and leave, Darcy shouting “please don’t contaminate anything whilst we’re gone!” before the door shuts. 

“Do I get to know what we’re doing tonight?” Lila asks, leaning into Daisy on the floor, Daisy’s fingers tracing gentle circles into her back. She can practically feel the tension rolling off her shoulders, melting into the floor and hopefully disappearing forever, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. 

“Nope. You’ll like it though.” Daisy promises. “But we do have time to “contaminate” the room if we wanted to before we have to get ready.” 

“Oh by all means, lead the way.” Lila grins. 

“Did you just quote Hamilton before we have sex?” Daisy laughs.

”Yes I did, now undress me.” 

“Alright, alright, bossy.”

* * *

They take Daisy’s motorbike that she got for her birthday along with her pilot’s license and actual drivers license, when they leave to the still classified location. 

They ride for a good hour or so, and Lila’s pretty sure they’re not even in Plymouth anymore, so she has no clue where she is when they pull up to a farmhouse. 

Daisy leads them up to the door, big makes Lila hang back on the doorstep as she talks to who Lila is guessing is the owner, a tall balding man who looks like the epitome of “British farmer”, boots and cardigan and all. He smiled kindly though, and hands Daisy a set of keys and spouts some directions that only Daisy and her would be able to remember in a pinch. 

Daisy grins when she comes back to Lila, the man going back inside. She takes Lila’s hand and pulls her around the side of the farmhouse to a massive stable. 

The keys unlock the stable door and there are about ten horses inside of varying breeds. Lila smiles widely because now she understands. Daisy was recreating the first day they ever spent together, all those years ago. They rode horses and had a picnic and watched the stars before going inside to watch Disney movies. 

“I love you, like a fuck ton, you know that right?” Lila laughs to Daisy, who kisses her on the forehead. 

“Happy anniversary butterfly.” 

They both pick out a horse and saddle up, before leading their horses out of the stable and into the massive fields that lie behind the house. Lila forgot how much she loved riding, she hadn’t been able to this summer due to her broken leg. She gets the horse up to canter before leading it towards the jumps, clearing each one as Daisy whoops in the distance, her own horse cantering in long lines. 

God, it makes her feel so free. Like nothing can touch her here, no bad things have happened as long as there is her and the horse and Daisy and the wet grass. She laughs happily for the first time in what feels like months, the knot of anxiety that has been building in her chest loosening just that tiny bit as the sun sets on them. 

She wants this to last forever. 

It almost feels like it does until they’re taking the horses back and heading to the beach on the motorbike, the feeling of flying on the horse still set in her bones and Lila grins all the way there, holding tight to Daisy. 

The beach is empty when they get there, obviously it’s October and England, so it’s cold as fuck. Daisy grabs a basket and blankets she had stowed in the seat of her bike, takes Lila’s hand and pulls out to the sand. 

They find a spot where they could still see the bike, but was far enough away from possible passerby's, who might question what two teenagers were doing on the beach late at night in the middle of October. 

“So I did pretty good right?” Daisy smirks, and Lila rolls her eyes. 

“Yes, of course you did amazing.” Daisy practically glows in the moonlight and Lila finds herself falling just that little more in love with her if that was possible. “You’re amazing.” 

“I love you, Lila.” Daisy says, a statement that she’s been saying since they were children, but is more solidified. A promise, a truth. Everything. 

“I love you too, Zee, more than you could ever know.” So much that it hurt sometimes. Fuck, Lila loved this girl so fucking much that it felt like she’d lost a limb when Daisy was away training with Strike. That in those moments of falling, all she’d been able to think about was telling her just how much she loved her. 

“I got you something.” Daisy says, reaching into the basket, (how that fit in her motorbike seat Lila will never know) and pulling out a small box. 

Lila takes the box carefully and knows immediately that there’s jewellery inside, it’s just one of those boxes. She pops the lid open and inside there a ring comprised of three different rings twisted together. 

A Russian wedding ring, she identifies. It’s quite possibly the most beautiful thing she’s seen, the first and third bands are silver , the middle is yellow gold with tiny amethysts set in it. It glints in the starlight and reflects the water and it takes Lila’s breath away a little. 

“I’m not proposing or anything, obviously, but I got you that in Russia, Melina and Mama went with me. Mama picked out her and Mom’s rings for their wedding and I got you that. I’m gonna be away with Strike next year, I know they’ve got missions coming up. And I know our tattoos are our promises to always come back, but the ring is so you know that we’re forever. I’m not going to leave you, I never could, butterfly. I love you too much.” Daisy explains, almost bashfully and Lila stats to cry somewhere in the speech. 

“It’s perfect, mon amour, absolutely perfect.” Lila says happily, sliding the ring on. It fits perfectly. She draws Daisy into a long kiss, their bodies fitting perfectly together just like the ring. 

“It’s not weird or anything?” Daisy checks and Lila laughs. 

“No, you sappy little assassin, I love it.” Lila promises and then she gets an idea. “Dance with me.” She pulls them up and finds some music on her phone, Hozier filling the otherwise silent beach from her speakers, because they were lesbians after all. 

“Everything’s going to work out okay, milaya.” Daisy promises as she stands up and they sway together to the music, Daisy pressing her cheek to Lila’s shoulder because she was short and she hated it but it got her cuddles. 

“You promise?” And Lila knew that Daisy couldn’t promise that, no one could. But she asked anyway. 

“I fucking pinky swear, butterfly, I won’t let you get hurt again.” It’s another statement that Lila wholeheartedly believes. Daisy was training harder these days, they all were, so nothing like HYDRA happened again. 

“As long as I’ve got you, Ulysses and nights like this, I think we’ll be okay.” Lila says, twirling Daisy. Daisy giggled and carried the spin, ending up completely some complicated ballet sequence that Lila would have no hope in hell of recreating. She just watched Daisy with a soft smile, the stars lighting up her eyes, Hozier still playing. 

It didn’t get rid of the dark ball in her chest that was weighing her down most days, lodged and choking and nauseating. But everything felt just a little bit okay right now. Daisy tackled her once she’d finished and kissed her deeply, hand tangled in her hair. 

Not fixed and not better, but okay. 


	55. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sharon visits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> completely random chapter with no real plot 
> 
> lmfao this is literally so random 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

The Ops kids are in the gym training when Sharon comes in. Daisy, Jules and America are sparring in the ring, designed like the old boxing rings, Piper and Kate were in the gun range, Robbie and Trip were over by the punching bags. 

“Hey, Shar! Whatcha doing here?” Trip calls to his cousin. She grins and goes over to the punching bags.

”BRAVO got a mission, we need Morse-Romanoff.” Sharon explains. “I’ll wait till the power twins are done.” 

“Don’t call them twins, it’s weird.” Robbie groaned, Trip rolled his eyes and pushed him. 

“How is it weird?” Sharon looks like the cat that got the cream. If they can get stuff to tease Daisy on, BRAVO will take everything they can get.

”Jules and Zee had a thing for a while, about a year ago. So, it’s just weird.” Trip explains. 

“Didn’t even know Mannings was gay.” Sharon comments, turning back to watch Daisy and Jules spar. “Or Morse-Romanoff.” 

“Seriously? They’re like two of the most lesbian lesbians I know, how did you not notice?” Robbie asks. 

“It’s not like I’m around them all the time nowadays.” Sharon defends. “How much longer will they be?” 

“Well it’s Zee and Jules and Mac and they started a half hour ago, so three hours?” Trip provides. 

“Seriously? They spar for that long?” 

“It used to be worse before Mac joined and before Zee and Jules started doing it, seriously you could feel the sexual tension from here.” Robbie shudders at the memories. “Like rabbits they were.” 

“But now Daisy’s dating Lila and Jules and Mac have something going on.” Trio adds. “Wanna see something cool?” 

“Go for it, baby cuz. We’ve got time for coffee before we have to leave.” Sharon grins. 

“Oh my god, you’re doing the thing.” Robbie laughs and Trip smirks before turning round to the rest of the gym. 

“HEY LESBIANS!” He shouts and all heads whip to him, stopping whatever they were doing. Robbie and Trip wheeze with laughter, (it works every bloody time) and Sharon grins. 

“I’ll be stealing that, boys.” She whispers, they nod through the tears in their eyes from laughing. 

“What do you want Wolfie?” Daisy calls back as Jules goes for a punch and Mac aims for her legs, but Daisy dodges both of them and launches a spinning kick, knocking them both to the floor. 

“You’ve got a mission!” Trip calls back. Daisy stops and looks at him and Jules and Mac take the opportunity to top her, pinning her to the ring. Daisy huffs and taps the ring three times. 

“No fair, I got distracted.” She pouts. “I cannot believe Jules just topped me.” 

“Do we have to do this every time we spar? I swear you two are like, one punch and a kick away from fucking again.” America rolls her eyes as Daisy and Jules splutter at her words. “And you aren’t even dating anymore!” 

“We weren’t dating in the first place!” Jules cries. 

“Friends with benefits then. Sometimes it’s like you two and Darcy are in a poly relationship but Daisy’s also dating Lila. It’s weird okay.” America defended. 

“Alright, break it up ladies. Go pack a bag Morse-Romanoff, we’re leaving in an hour.” Sharon broke them up, grinning at their argument. She missed her Academy days. 

“How long am I packing for?” Daisy asked as the three of them left the ring, unwrapping hands and fixing ponytails and braids and shit. 

“Four days. And we’re going to the Czech Republic so pack warm, it’s cold as hell over there.” Sharon says and Daisy nods. 

“I’ll meet you in the coffee shop in like forty minutes yeah? I’ve gotta say bye to Lila.” Daisy said, ignoring the teasing looks from her friends. 

“Avoid the dorm for a while then, message received.” Jules said and Daisy sent a quake her way to topple her over. 

“Fuck you.” Daisy threw over her shoulder. 

“Already have darling!” Jules called back grinning, running after Daisy as they chased each other, like they did after every sparring match. 

“I hate both of them.” America sighed, trudging after them. “I hate them so much.” 

“You like us so much it hurts Chavez.” Robbie laughed. 

“Sure I do ghost boy, as much as I like oranges.” 

“Aren’t you allergic to oranges?” Robbie asked. 

“Exactly.” She sighed, leaving the gym. 

“I like it here.” Sharon declared. There was an easy chaos to the group, the way they teased each other and fought but always came back to loving each other. It was pretty amazing actually, what the kids had built. 

“You should come more often.” Trip said, hugging her. “I miss you.” 

“You too, milaya. Come on, let’s go get coffee.” She said, patting his back affectionately. 

“I still don’t know what that means.” He said into her shoulder. 

“How have you known Morse-Romanoff this long and not picked up Russian?” Sharon laughed. 

“I’m not the only one! She’s the only one that bloody speaks it.” He complained. “It’s even bloody tattooed on us.” 

“Grandma Peggy’s gonna flip when she sees that.” Sharon laughed. “Your mom is gonna go apeshit too.” 

“Ah yeah, remind me what they said about your matching angel wings with Daisy’s mom?” He teased and she glared. 

“ _Those tattoos are going to get you both killed and it will be no one’s fault but your own. More pork, Bobbi, dear?”_ Sharon quoted, sounding exactly like Grandma Peggy. 

“I’m nineteen, how much can they do?” He laughed and Sharon raised an eyebrow. 

“Don’t you remember what they did to Uncle Ronan?” She asks quietly. 

“No? How’s Uncle Ronan?” 

“Exactly.” She says cryptically. He glared at her and she tags him. “Race you to the coffee shop!” 


	56. Sliding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghostsilverfly (robbie/pietro/lila) brotp rights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay not where i planned for this to go but sure this is kinda cute uh skating tomorrow i promise 
> 
> i love this trio okay 
> 
> WARNINGS: panic attack, mention of character deaths 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

Lila doesn’t have panic attacks all that often, fun fact, being brought up by a nurse and Hawkeye will help you prepare for things like anxiety, and she can normally tell when they’re coming. The world around her becomes distorted, likes she’s underwater and she can’t hear anything but muffled shouts. Her chest tightens up and the hardest thing to do is breathe. 

Normally, Daisy can help, signing to communicate, sending a small quake with every breath that will remind her to breathe. 

But Daisy isn’t here. She’s on mission in the fucking Czech Republic with Strike Team BRAVO and Lila is here, in fucking Plymouth and she can’t breathe. 

This would happen the minute Daisy disappeared, the second all stability Lila has ever known drops from her world and she is left tumbling down a dark rabbit hole of nothingness, suspended by nothing but her own nightmares and the lungs in her chest that have forgotten how to work. 

Someone taps her on the shoulder and she flinches away, stumbling slightly as she backs into the kitchen counter. Worried, dark eyes meet hers. 

Robbie. 

“You’re having a panic attack and you need to breathe okay?” He signs perfectly, when the hell did he learn that? 

“Can’t.” She wheezes out, gripping the counter behind her for something like balance as the world around gets smaller and smaller. 

“Count in sevens with me, yeah?” He's stealing Daisy’s technique. She can do that. That made sense, she knew that technique. 

She nods and he smiled slightly, words still silent but she can see his fingers counting up in sevens, she takes a breath with each number. 

They make all the way to 595 and she’s finally breathing normally again. She says against the counter, tired and a little embarrassed. 

“Hey there, mariposa.” (butterfly) He smiles, she lets him hug her. He’s taller than her, but not by much. He’s 6’2, she’s 5’11. Tall for her gender. She fits into his arms like a puzzle piece, clinging to his soft shirt like a lifeline as she cried. 

“What’s wrong, little butterfly?” He whispers into her hair and she shakes her head. She’s not entirely sure but everything just feels wrong and it’s overwhelming. 

Lottie, Joey and Davis only died six months ago. She keeps waking up screaming from nightmares. It feels like there’s this giant fucking weight in her chest that she can’t dislodge or she might die. Daisy could get hurt or kidnapped or killed at any minute and she wouldn’t even be able to do anything about it. 

“Everything’s just too much.” She whispers into Robbie’s shoulder, hoping he’ll understand. His eyes tell her he does. 

“It’ll get better, chica, maybe not today or tomorrow or maybe not the next ten years, but I promise one day it will.” She nods slowly. “Everyone’s going skating but you wanna just hang out here?” She nods emphatically. Nothing could be better right now. 

“Dumb-dumb pretty boy is bringing the dog back, so movie night?” He says, she giggled a little. 

“You’ve gotta stop calling him that. And only if you let me watch Mad Max: Fury Road.” He pulls her to the couch and she ends up lying down with her head on his thigh as he stroked her hair. If she was Daisy, she’d be purring right now. 

She missed her a lot right now. 

“I would never get between you and Furiosa.” Robbie laughs. “You’ve got a type.” 

“Thank you, it’s the lesbianism.” She responds dryly. 

“We have to let Tro watch Pride and Prejudice or he’ll cry, and I don’t want that tonight.” Robbie tells her, she laughs a little. 

“Does he often cry over period films?” 

“Oh no, just that one. He wants to run through a field of wheat in a ball gown apparently for his birthday next year.” Robbie explains. 

“Daisy wants to set fire to a field of wheat.” 

“I’m rather concerned about your girlfriend’s obsession with arson, darling.” Robbie comments, she punches his thigh playfully. 

“Your head sets on fire and you’re worried about Daisy’s obsession with lighters? Priorities need checked there babe.” 

“Hello, loves.” Pietro announces his and Ulysses’ presence. Robbie makes grabby hands and Lila claps her hands to get the dog to come lie with her. The poor baby was tired after his walk, he curled up at her front. 

“No wonder people think we’re a poly ship.” Robbie sighs. 

“There’s a rumour going around that all the Legacies are secretly dating.” Pietro supplies. “I have done nothing to change this rumour.” 

“You’re such a drama whore.” Lila teases. 

“You love it.” Pietro pokes her cheek. “Take a nap, little łucznik.” (archer) 

“Fine. Wake me up when Pride and Prejudice ends.” She said, threading her fingers with Pietro’s, bringing a blanket over herself. She fell asleep almost instantaneously. 

“Well at least Daisy won’t kill us.” Robbie commented once Lila was asleep. They were under strict orders to look after her girlfriend or they would lose some non-vital extremity and Robbie liked his fingers intact thank you. 

“Love you, ghost boy.” Pietro whispered, kissing Robbie softly. 

“Love you too.” Robbie smiled. 

“Love you three.” Lila grinned, Robbie swatted her. 

“Go back to sleep or I’m telling your girlfriend.” 

“You suck.” 

“You love me.” 

“I do.” 

“Are you sure you’re not dating?” Pietro butted in. “Like 100% sure?” 


	57. Snow Drifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy, Wanda, Jules and America go ice skating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is quite a random chapter tbh 
> 
> WARNINGS: past sexual harassment of a minor 
> 
> i really need to stop giving my characters last trauma i’m sorry 
> 
> enjoy! (this chapter is cute i promise) -bex xx

“Cmon Darce, please come.” Jules practically begged. 

“But I’ve got so much to do, engineering report for tomorrow, essay for my Political Science class, coding. The list goes on.” Darcy sighed, her heavy backpack thudding to the floor as if to make her point. 

“You can do that when you get back, we’ll be like, three hours tops. You already said you would go!” Jules persisted. 

“And then Lila, Robbie, Pietro, Lincoln and Trip dropped out.” Darcy pointed out but her resolve was weakening. “I’ll go if you get me hot chocolate.” 

“Yes! Cmon, let’s go get wrapped up.” 

An hour later Jules, Darcy, Wanda and America were trudging through the snow to the skating rink set up in town. 

“Zee gets back tomorrow.” Jules said. 

“Hopefully that’ll snap Lila out of her funk.” Darcy commented. They’d all noticed it. “So what about everyone here? What’s going on in the world of Legacies love?” 

“I have never heard it phrased that way in my entire life.” America sighed, Darcy grinned. 

“I have my talents. Now come on, I wanna know.” 

“Know what? Hi, Wanda Maximoff, resident aromantic and asexual.” Wanda laughed, Darcy nudged her.

”Not you, dingus.” Darcy groaned. “I meant them.” She nodded to Jules and America who had their fingers interlaced. 

“What about us?” America asked confusedly. Darcy quirked an eyebrow and nodded to their joined hands and the way Jules kept trying to cuddle further into America for heat. 

“Something you’d like to tell us Chavez?” Wanda joined Darcy in teasing them. 

“Okay, me and Jules have been having sex for a good month and a half now. Happy now?” She said, Jules spluttered and turned as red as her hair. 

“I thought we were keeping that between us!” 

“Jules, darling, you make all the water in a mile radius dance when you have sex. Trust me, we all knew.” Wanda grinned evilly at Jules’ dramatic sigh. 

“Stupid powers.” She cursed. 

“Hey, Daisy makes the ground shake and Robbie once accidentally let the Ghost Rider out, so Pietro got startled and speeded away. I don’t know what was funnier, Lila’s dads reaction to finding a naked Pietro in the barn or Lila’s moms reaction to the new sheets Robbie bought because he scorched the other ones.” Wanda said, aiming for comforting but only succeeding in making them all crack up. Ah well, at least they weren’t all mopey now. 

“So remind me, who chose ice skating?” Darcy said, when the laughter abetted. She hadn’t gone skating since she did competitive figure skating when she was nine. Creepy coach made her quit and never return to the ice. 

“I did. Haven’t been in a long time and it’s one of the most gayest activities out there.” Jules said. Look she noticed the anxiety practically radiating off of Darcy, but she didn’t want to pry. Darcy was always cagey about her past. It took her almost two years of knowing them to tell them about her dad, and that was only because Wanda accidentally saw her nightmare. 

“And you chose this week because Daisy’s away.” Darcy said. She wasn’t afraid of skating, she was afraid of who she might see. 

Richard Draper had been her coach when she started figure skating at age seven. He was weird and leery and that’s probably how her mom afforded his lessons. For two years, it was constant inappropriate touching or lingering gazes or just overall creepiness. She didn’t want to say anything because her mom was so proud of her for this. 

Finally, he tried to kiss her after practice in the locker room one day but she tasered him, (she was nine and living in Harlem, of course she carried a taser) and ran out and never went back to skating. 

(She also found him guilty of tax fraud and reported him anonymously to the police, so he was in jail for a while and last she heard, couldn’t hold down a job.) 

“She hates skating, gets physically sick every time she steps near the ice.” Wanda said to America who looked confused. 

“Can you blame her?” Darcy said, feeling a little sick herself. Memories of Richard’s breath on her neck or his hand skimming her inner thigh flashed by. 

“Hey Darce, you okay?” Jules said quietly, nodding to Wanda and America to walk ahead. They have Darcy a worried look but went ahead anyway. 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

 _Maybe because you’re shaking and literally about to vomit._ Darcy’s brain supplied helpfully. 

“You just looked a little faint. You don’t have to skate if you don’t want to.” Jules said, interlocking their pinkies, giving Darcy a tether. 

“Just some bad experiences with skating in the past.” Darcy mumbled, but Jules still heard. 

“Wanna talk about it?” 

“It was a long time ago.” Darcy sighed. “I should be over it.” 

“No, don’t do that. Would you tell Daisy to get over the Red Room? Wanda and Pietro to get over HYDRA experimenting on them? Would you tell me to get over the fire?” That last one held a vulnerability that made Darcy feel like a piece of shit. 

“Of course I wouldn’t.” She sighed. “Just this thing was so dumb.” 

“What are Lila and Wanda, otherwise known as our resident mum friends, always telling us?” 

“Trauma is trauma, no matter how small.” Darcy said instantly, then exhaled. 

“We don’t have to skate if you really don’t want to.” Jules said, giving Darcy a one-armed hug. “Promise.” 

“No, I want to skate. The skating isn’t the issue. I’m just scared at who I’ll see.” Darcy admits, hiding her face in Jules’ shoulder. 

“What do you mean, love?” Jules asks softly. 

“I used to do competitive skating when I was younger. My coach was a pedophile.” Darcy says and luckily, Jules understands before she has to go any further.

”Did he ever...” 

“No, no, god no. I tasered him when he tried.” Darcy says, almost bashfully. 

“Atta girl!” Jules laughs proudly and Darcy blushes at the praise. 

“I left skating that day and I haven’t gone back. I’m just scared that I’ll see him or something.” Darcy admits, Jules holds her a little tighter. 

“We’ll protect you, Darce. I promise he can’t get to you.” Jules says and Darcy nods, still a little uncertainly. “Mac can take him.” 

“She would annihilate him.” Darcy giggled. 

“Photon blasters and everything.” 

“She doesn’t have photon blasters.” Darcy said. 

“That’s what you think.” Jules said cryptically, Darcy raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m the one in Sci-Tech remember?” 

“How could we forget?” 

“So would you also destroy a guy for me? Or are you leaving that to your scary non-photon blasting alien girlfriend?” Darcy teased, Jules pinched her. 

“She’s not my girlfriend.” 

“Friends with benefits again?” Darcy asked. 

“Whatever you say.” Jules sighed. “Hey, wait for us!” 

* * *

“I cannot believe Mac doesn’t know how to skate!” Darcy said delightedly. Mac flipped her the bird, but she just laughed and glided gracefully away. 

Once she got out there and got one the initial fear, she found that she actually really liked the ice again. Sure, she kept careful watch of every man around her, but she was still having fun. 

“Cmon Mac, take my hands.” Jules said, America took them grudgingly, they took a few careful steps together. 

“Why do you people enjoy this?” She grumbled, skidding a little bit. Wanda and Darcy linked arms and skated happily around the ice. 

“It’s fun and camp, we are but lowly gay children.” Jules explained, smirking slightly. This was the first time since she met Mac that she was better at something. This would probably never happen again. 

“We didn’t have this on my planet.” Mac said, gripping hard on Jules’ hands before she fell. “I’m glad we didn’t.” 

“You wanna go get hot chocolate?” Jules offered. 

“Now that, I can get behind.” America smiled happily and they skated off the ice, handing in their boots. Darcy and Wanda stayed on the ice. 

“Hey Darce, if you ever wanna talk, I’m here for you, you know that right?” Wanda said quietly to Darcy. 

“I know. Same here, mała czarownica.” (little witch) Darcy smiled. “Always.” 


	58. The G Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pure gay mess of the Legacies drinking and talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a whole ass mess i’m so sorry i don’t even think it flows right 
> 
> it’s fluffy tho? literally just them having fun for once? 
> 
> and also some more coming outs :) because no, i can’t live without that for a long ass time so we gender reveals! kind of 
> 
> like i said, very messy chapter i’m very sorry 
> 
> also shoutout (again hey) to innertimetraveldetective because i steal so much shit from their fic, What We Become so i highkey recommend reading their stuff! 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

Daisy was fucking exhausted okay? She’d only gotten back from the Czech Republic like a day ago after the mission overran by three days. Seven days that were supposed to be four of running around fucking Krkonoše, barely sleeping and getting ambushed by AIM agents at least three times meant that she just wanted to sleep. 

Of course, her friends said no. 

“Do I have to go?” And yes she was perfectly aware that she sounded like a whiny bottom, but she just wanted to cuddle with Lila and talk about their feelings and shit. 

Why was she lying to herself? She just wanted to watch Netflix and cuddle with Lila. Feelings could wait. 

“Yes.” Lila says, searching the floor for a clean shirt. They really needed to do laundry at some point. 

“Why?” Daisy whined again. 

“Because socialisation is important. And it’s Thanksgiving.” Lila pointed out. 

“It is?” 

“It is. You’re still working on Czech time.” Lila said, pulling Daisy up out of her bed when her hand was extricated from the covers. 

“We’re cuddling when we get there.” Daisy said with a groan as Lila pulled her out. 

“Anything for you, baby.” Lila giggled. 

“Ow, ow, wait, not so fast.” Daisy winced slightly. “Stitches.” 

“How do you not notice getting stabbed for three days?” Lila said again. 

“Oh no, I noticed. I just chose to forget about it.” Daisy grabbed her blanket and Hermione. “Carry me.” 

“Someone’s acting very bottom.” Lila said with a smirk. “Maybe we should do that more often.” 

“No. I am a strong top.” Daisy persisted even though she was clinging to Lila like a koala. “But if you wanna switch then sure, I’m up for anything. But not right now.” 

“Not right now.” Lila echoed, carrying Daisy into the living room. The Legacies took in their positions. 

“What’s up, lesbians?” Piper greeted with a smirk. Lila deposited Daisy on the couch, grabbing a cider and a sprite for Daisy before going to sit next to her.

“She’s tired and clingy. Just be glad she’s here.” Lila said before anyone could comment on Daisy’s bedraggled state. 

“So, happy Thanksgiving everyone.” Trip said. Everyone pretty much just grunted in response. 

“Been a weird year so far hasn’t it?” Kate commented from their seat on the floor. “Like crazy-shitballs-what-the-fuck-who-let-this-happen-weird.” 

“Story of our lives.” Robbie said.

”Preach.” Daisy mumbled sleepily. 

“So what happened on the mission, Romanoff?” Jules asked. 

“Classified.” 

“Who’s on the Strike Team?” Kate chimed in. 

“Classified.” 

“Did anyone get hurt?” This was just getting fun for them now, they all knew Daisy couldn’t answer anything. 

“Fucking classified, next person to ask me something gets knifed.” Daisy said. “What did I miss here?” 

“Not a lot to be honest. Everyone was leaving for Thanksgiving, you missed ice skating.” Darcy supplied. 

“Trust me, did plenty of that to last me a lifetime.” Daisy would have shuddered but she was under a weighted blanket and Lila’s arm. “Hi, puppy!” Ulysses bounded up to her, like he hadn’t just seen her in bed.

“Oh, Jules and Mac are doing it.” Trip added. Mac shot him a deadly glare and Jules flicked his whisky up to soak him. 

“Old news, Wolfie, I knew about that a month ago.” Daisy said from under her pile. She was getting closer and closer to drifting off, but she wanted to stay awake because now her friends were here. 

“How the hell did you know?” Kate asked. 

“And why didn’t you tell us?” Wanda said indignantly.

“I can keep secrets when I want to.” Daisy smiled. “Wake me up when dinner gets here.” 

“Goodnight, love.” Lila said softly, and yeah, Daisy being back had helped her a lot. She felt a lot lighter than she had last week, like the crushing weight had lifted just that tiny bit. She brought Daisy’s head into her lap and started braiding her hair. Daisy purred contentedly. 

“You two are so gay.” Robbie laughed, the others mumbling or laughing in agreement. Lila sent them all a withering glare. 

“If anyone wakes her up, I will add your name to my Death Note.” She threatened. 

“Just how far back in your anime phase are you, jeez.” Darcy giggled. “Let’s play Truth or Drink.” 

“This never ends well.” Wanda sighed. 

“And yet its so fun.” Pietro laughed. 

“Again, such a drama whore.” Lila poked him. He feigned shock and pretended to faint into Robbie who caught him and held on tight. They were all pretty tipsy, bar Daisy, Lila and Lincoln, (he was doing really good with staying off more than he could handle since the roof and the car in the summer) so they were all primed for deep dark secrets to be revealed.

“Where else would you get the gossip during our Wednesday coffee sessions?” He said and Lila rolled her eyes. 

“So, Truth or Drink?” Darcy pressed on. 

“Go for it.” Jules said. 

“Okay, Mac, who and where was your first kiss?” Darcy asked. America sighed.

”Under the bleachers back on my home planet. I was twelve. She was fourteen. Her name was Taleah and we never spoke after that.” She admitted. 

“Ooft, that sucks.” Darcy said. “Big F in the chat.” 

“Alright, Lewis, how many people have you hacked and stolen money from?” America shot back. 

“Just stolen money from?” Darcy raised an eyebrow and Mac nodded. “Sixteen.” 

“Amateur.” Daisy mumbled from pretty much underneath Lila. 

“Shh, sleep, peu de veuve.” (little widow) Lila shushed her, Daisy’s eyes closing again. 

“You two are so domestic it makes me want to barf.” Kate laughed. 

“Oh yeah, like you and Pipes don’t spend pretty much every minute you’re together tangled in each other.” Lila glared again, Kate laughed it off. No one got between Lila and Daisy’s health and well-being. They weren’t stupid. 

“Whilst we’re on the topic of spilling secrets, I have something to confess.” Kate continued, all heads to them. “I’m using she/they pronouns now.” 

“Omg same!” America grinned. 

“Yeah, me too.” Lila admitted. 

“I wanna start using he/they.” Trip added. 

“Same!” Pietro grinned. 

“Well, congrats to all of you, thank you for feeling comfortable enough to tell us that. We will now use your respected pronouns and add it to the tally board.” Jules said. 

“I keep forgetting about the tally board.” Piper groaned. “Even though it literally sits above the tv.” 

“Wait, what’s it even for? I thought it was like your laundry board or how many times Zee’s stabbed someone here.” Robbie said, looping his arm around Pietro’s chest, pulling him closer. 

“No, it’s the coming out tally board.” Jules explained. “You get a tally every time you come out as something new.” 

“We are so gay.” Darcy whined. 

“That we are, Lewis, that we are.” Lincoln laughed. 

“I mean, what even is gender at this point? I personally think of mine as a stab in the dark.” Piper said, all philosophical and shit. 

“Fat mood.” Mac grinned. “Airplane turbine.” 

“A small frog with a cowboy hat.” Kate added.

”What the fuck is happening?” Robbie whispered to Lila. She tried to pull out her phone to show him the “gender is a nonsensical construct” memes on twitter but Daisy whined in her sleep and restricted Lila’s movements by cuddling her. 

“She’s so cute when she’s asleep, Wanda, quick, what’s she dreaming about?” Pietro said. Wanda quirked an eyebrow but looked quickly in Daisy’s head anyway. 

“Uh, fighting assassins in the snow...oh, someone just got stabbed...and there’s the bomb....knives....why is there a horse?” Wanda giggled as Daisy rode a horse backward and shot ten guys. She definitely liked Daisy's nicer dreams, they were always nonsensical combat. 

“Get out of her head, you know she hates it.” Jules said, tugging Wanda to the floor so they could cuddle. “Mine.” 

“I’m offended, babe.” Mac smirked, Jules smacked her and sat on Mac’s lap whilst still keeping hold of Wanda, who just let it happen. 

“Yall ever think that maybe we’re all _too_ close?” Trip asked. 

“Nah.” 

“Us? Never.” 

“Practically strangers.” 

“I have never seen this woman before in my life.” 

“Who even are the Legacies? Never heard of them before.”

”A white man? In this economy?” 

“Who has the vodka?” 

“Can someone put Greenday on?” 

“I think we got a little off topic guys.” Trip laughed. “Love you idiots.” 


	59. Fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lincoln and Daisy fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i already do a staticquake fight? yes. are you getting another one? yes. was there a reason? none at all i’m sorry 
> 
> this chapter is also really long and i don’t really have an explanation for it either 
> 
> man this chapters sad the legacies never really fight with each other, especially not about stuff like this but Lincoln’s grieving and daisy’s feeling guilty and ooft sorry anyway 
> 
> quakeriderfly content tho! i stan that trio and pietro when he’s there can you tell? 
> 
> WARNINGS: alcohol, talk about suicide, self-loathing 
> 
> -bex xx

“Whatcha doing here, Linc?” Daisy asked as she walked into the living room, seeing Lincoln rummaging in their cupboard. Fun fact, she wasn’t an idiot, she knew exactly what he was looking for in their alcohol supply. 

“We’re all out in the boys dorm.” He was slurring a little so she knew he was already pretty drunk. This should be fun. 

“So you were just gonna steal from us? Fair enough.” She sighed, walking into the kitchen and jumping up on the counter. 

Why did this always happen to her? All she wanted was water and apple slices. Her and Darcy were building and coding a mini holotable, Lila wanted her back in bed. But Lincoln came first. 

“Yall have better vodka.” Lincoln grinned triumphantly when he held up Daisy’s Russian vodka. The incredibly strong vodka that managed to get even her Mama drunk and that was practically impossible. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, hun.” Daisy said, Lincoln’s eyes flashed. 

Ugh, shit. Not again. 

“I haven’t drank since the roof, Dais. This is a fantastic idea.” He said, she scoffed. 

“No, that just means you’ll get drunk faster and do something stupid. I’d rather not find you on a roof again.” She said, voice wavering a little on the last bit. She’d been fucking terrified that night, dragging him back from the roof only to get slammed into the wall. She was so scared he’d jumped off whilst she was trying to open her eyes. 

“Well maybe you should just let me jump next time.” He practically spat, Daisy flinched. 

“Don’t be dumb, Lincoln. I’m not letting you die, I told you that.” She exhaled and held a hand out. “Give me the bottle.” 

“Fuck off Romanoff. I can handle it.” He said defensively, the way he practically gulped the vodka like water made Daisy break out in goosebumps. This wasn’t going to end well. 

“I’m definitively sure that’s what you said before you wrapped your car around a tree. Just slow down at least.” 

“Stop trying to save me, Daisy.” He sighed, swaying slightly. She opened her mouth but he continued. “I mean it, Zee, I’m not worth saving.” 

“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not trying to save you, Linc-“ 

“Then you would have let me jump off that roof.” He fired over her, she jumped off the counter. 

“I was not letting you die just because Joey did.” And she’s perfectly aware that it’s a low blow but he was telling her that she should have let him take his own fucking life. 

“At least I’ll get to see him again!” Lincoln exclaimed. 

“You would die Lincoln! You would die and we just lost the others, we can’t lose anyone else!” 

“Then you should have saved them!” And there it was. He’d said it. He’d the one thing that had been going around and around her mind for months. 

She could have saved them and she didn’t. She was the only person there that they really wanted, if she’d sacrificed herself, they’d all still be alive. It was her fault. It was all her fault. 

“I wanted to. I tried my fucking hardest. I’m sorry, Lincoln-“ 

“That’s not enough! He’s dead, Daisy, they’re all fucking dead and you couldn’t save them! So stop trying to save me, because all you’ll do is kill me too.” He shouted and tears started flowing down Daisy’s cheeks. 

He’s angry and he’s grieving and he’s drunk. She can’t even blame him for anything he’s saying because it’s the truth isn’t it? 

It is her fault. She killed them. It is all on her. 

“That’s enough Lincoln.” Trip says from behind them, thinly veiled anger in his voice that makes Daisy shake. She killed Lottie too, how could he even look at her? How could any of her friends even stomach being around her after what she did? 

“Are you here to save me too? I don’t need fucking saving-“ 

“You’re drunk Lincoln. You’re drunk and grieving and even still, it’s not her fault. It’s HYDRA’s fault and all of them are dead now. She did that for us, Lincoln. She killed them so we wouldn’t have to. So leave her alone and go back to the dorm.” Trip cuts him off. Daisy’s chest is starting to tighten a little, an uncomfortable blackness at the edges of her vision. Her finger taps relentlessly against the counter, guilt swirling with grief and confusion in her stomach, twisting it into knots. 

Trip comes over to grab Lincoln and takes one look at a very shaken Daisy. “Robbie, can you?” 

“Sure, come on mija. Let’s get you into bed before Lila comes looking.” Robbie said softly, making sure he didn’t touch her. Her eyes held a darkness to them, self-loathing replacing the warmth. He was already concerned. “Can you walk?” 

“Извините.” (I’m sorry.) She whispered. “Я хотел спасти их, но не мог.” (I wanted to save them, but I couldn’t.) 

“Come on, love. Let’s get you to bed.” He coaxed and she went willingly whilst Trip took Lincoln back to their dorm. “It’s gonna be okay.” 

“Zabiłem ich. To moja wina.” (I killed them. It’s my fault.) He’s definitely sure she has no idea what language she’s speaking, Daisy never does well with conflict like that. 

“No mi pequeño terremoto no fue.” (No my little earthquake it wasn’t.) Robbie said quietly, guiding them down the hall to Daisy’s room. 

“Jesus, what happened?” Lila asked as soon as he opened the door. 

“Her and Lincoln had a fight.” He explained, depositing Daisy into her bed, her finger still tapping wildly. She didn’t often go silent like this, he was suspecting it was an overload. 

“What were they fighting about?” Darcy asked. 

“He was drinking and she was telling him to stop. He told her to stop trying to save him, that she should have let him die. He- he blamed her for the kids’ deaths.” Robbie didn’t miss the sharp intake of breath from Lila and Jules. They all knew that in his right mind, Lincoln would never say anything like that, would never even think it. But now he had, all they had left was this horrible fallout. 

“Hey, baby. Can I come up there?” Lila asked softly, Daisy’s head shaking ever so slightly. “Okay, I’ll stay down here.” 

“It was my fault.” Daisy whispered eventually, over two hours of pure silence having passed. Darcy had already saved and filed all their work and headed to the others room for the night. “It was all my fault.” 

“That’s not true, Zee. You didn’t kill them, HYDRA did.” Lila persisted, shooting Robbie a pleading look. 

“They died, Zee, but we still saved over 1000 people.” He said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Daisy curled even further into herself, clutching her stuffed animals to her chest. Ulysses watched them mournfully from one of his many beds in the dorm, like he could sense something was wrong. 

“It wasn’t enough. Davis still died, Lottie died, Joey died. They were our friends, Robbie. And I couldn’t save them.” Daisy said, tears falling again. 

“No one could. Not one of us managed to save them either. You aren’t to blame, sweetheart. No one but HYDRA is.” She doesn’t believe it but none of them expected her to. Daisy carried guilt like a scar, etched into her brain like the ones on her body forever. 

“Can I- can I have a hug?” She asked tentatively instead. Robbie chuckled a little wetly and Lila smiled. 

“Of course, baby. You never need to ask.” Lila said, crossing from their own bed immediately to Daisy’s, drawing her and Robbie into a hug. 

“We’ll sort this out with Lincoln as well.” Robbie said, Daisy’s face fell again. “That wasn’t your fault either.” 

“You sound like my therapist.” She sighed. “Are you staying?” 

“Do you want me to?” 

Daisy nodded, looking to Lila for confirmation. 

“You’re welcome anytime ghost boy.” Lila grinned. “Text your partner though.” 

“Bold of you to assume me and Tro don’t have a psychic connection at this point.” He smirked at Lila’s swat. Daisy giggled a little. 

“I love you guys, you know that right?” She said, almost shyly. In her defence she was emotionally wrung out and unstable in the first place. She’d probably go on a run in the very early hours of the morning, ballet if she can fit it in before breakfast that she probably wouldn’t eat because her stomach was still all twisted up. Hopefully she’d be good by lunch. Hopefully. 

Man, she hated her body sometimes. 

“Of course we do, little love. Love you too.” Lila said, kissing Daisy’s forehead. 

“I’m not that little.” Daisy pouted. Robbie and Lila cracked up. She was adorable okay. 

“Yes you are, darling. Teeny, tiny assassin.” Robbie laughed at her glare. “With all the power to snap my neck in your teeny tiny pinky finger, I know.” 

“Cuddles?” She said, once she’d given him the middle finger. 

“Of course.” Lila said, tugging Robbie up the bed to lie with them. Daisy curled up in the middle, Robbie and Lila on either side of her and them of course, Ulysses felt left out so he joined the snuggle too. 

“We’re lucky they put double beds in all the fourth year dorms, otherwise this wouldn’t be possible.” Robbie commented when they’d all settled down. 

“We have definitely shared a single bed before.” Lila said over Daisy’s head. Daisy’s mumbled in agreement, already falling asleep due to the warmth and comfort of two of her favourite people in the world. 

“Those were some fun times. But I like this better.” Robbie smiled. “Tro said goodnight btw.” 

“Through the telepathic channel?” Lila teased. 

“No, by fucking carrier pigeon.” 

“I hate you.” 

“You love me so much it hurts.” He smirked, earning another swat. 

“Shh, I am sad, you are loud.” Daisy whined. She’d been very whiny lately, but to be fair, she’d been on mission with BRAVO for a week and had to be mature and shit. Even if Sharon and Hartley treated her like a kid, everyone else on the team saw her as the “Little Widow”. 

“You’re always sad.” Lila laughed softly, but they tightened their head on Daisy. “Sorry, baby.” 

“I’m not always sad! Just a lot of the time. It’s the trauma, leave me alone.” Daisy defended. “Sleep now. That’s an order.” 

“It’s cute you think you can do that.” Robbie said. “Goodnight pequeño asesino.” (little assassin) Lila turned off the light and they settled down to sleep. 

“Everything’s gonna be okay one day, I promise.” Lila said into the dark, Robbie’s hand gripping theirs and Daisy’s arms encircling their waist. “They have to.” 


	60. The Stars Smiled Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People aren’t gone forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter pulls a full 180 in the end i promise you it’s so sad and angsty and then it’s like boom, constellations and fluff 
> 
> they’re gay, of course they all love astrology also, i don’t know if you can see any of these stars in Plymouth but just roll with it 
> 
> WARNINGS: grief, mourning, suicidal thoughts, intrusive thoughts, depression 
> 
> -bex xx

“Hello, dumb dumb.” Trip grinned a little evilly as Lincoln stumbled blearily into the living room in the Stark Dorm. Lincoln groaned, the hangover clearly hitting him hard. 

“I thought Tro was the dumb dumb.” Lincoln said. 

“Oh no, he’s dumb dumb pretty boy, you’re just a massive dumbass.” Trio grinned at Lincoln’s confused and slightly offended look. 

“Time is it?” Lincoln grunted, going straight for the coffee pot. 

“Four in the afternoon.” Trip said casually, Lincoln turning to him with wide eyes. 

“Why’d you let me sleep so late?” 

“You needed it. How much do you remember about last night?” The way Trip said it made the hair on Lincoln’s neck stand on end and he couldn’t even blame it on his control of static electricity. What did he do now? 

_Who did you hurt now? You always do this, you fucking waste of space. Who tried to stop you last night? How many times did you attempt last night only for them to save you again? They won’t keep saving you._

“What did I do now?” He shook his head to make the voice shut up. Pietro walked in as he asked, Robbie at their back. 

“You shouted at Daisy.” Robbie’s voice was clipped, Lincoln winced slightly. Memories of the Hand dorm’s kitchen came flooding back, rooting through their alcohol supply, Daisy sitting on the counter. She told him to stop, to slow down before he did something stupid, he told her she was to blame for- 

Oh holy shit. 

_You hurt her again. She’s not going to keep forgiving you, how can she? Clearly you haven’t forgiven her for something she didn’t even fucking do._

“Oh.” Was all he could manage, eyes trained on the floor. He could feel all their eyes on his back. They didn’t seem angry, just disappointed. That was worse. 

“Yeah, _oh._ Lincoln, what the hell were you thinking?” Trip asked. He led them to the couches in the living room, practically dragging Lincoln there. Lincoln grabbed a tangle toy off the table. 

“I was thinking. That was the problem, I was thinking too much. I just wanted it to stop. The alcohol helps.” He admitted, eyes still tracked downwards, the green plastic blurring slightly as his eyes teared up. 

_They’re going to think you’re weak. They’re all going to see just what you are, a weak, pathetic, stupid boy unable to move on. All they’d be seeing is the truth. You’re nothing, Lincoln, nothing._

“A bit too much.” Robbie said quietly, Pietro gave him a look. 

“You could have came to us, Linc.” Pietro said softly. “We could have helped.” 

“You can’t bring Joey back to life. That’s all that could really help.” Lincoln practically whispered, his voice seeming to fade from his throat as the voice in his head got louder. 

_He can’t come back. He’s dead. You know that, so why are you still holding on to him? Why are you still hoping for a miracle you don’t fucking deserve? God, he’d be so disappointed in you-_

“Just because they’re gone doesn’t mean we lose each other too.” Trip said, moving closer. Lincoln could hear the raw pain in his voice, something akin to his own. They were forged in the same fire, that night HYDRA took Joey and Lottie and Davis, they were both burned. “We can’t lose each other.” 

“Why do you think we got the tattoos? We’re bonded, babe. You can’t get rid of us.” Pietro said, Trip nodding and touching his tattoo to Lincoln’s. 

“I just don’t know what to do without him. We were meant to get married for fucks sake.” The ring on his finger was an almost constant reminder of that. A heavy weight dragging him down until he fell, stumbling under the cold metal that would never be warmed by Joey’s hand again. 

“He wouldn’t want you killing yourself.” Robbie said. “None of them would want them.” 

“That’s easy to say when you’re dead.” Lincoln said, eyes shut tight to stop the tears escaping. “That’s easy to say when the voice in your head isn’t telling you that’s what you deserve.” 

“No one ever said it was easy.” Robbie reasoned. “That’s the thing about life isn’t it? It keeps on going after death.” 

“I wish it wouldn’t.” Lincoln muttered. 

“You aren’t the only one.” Trip admitted. His hand moved from Lincoln’s wrist to hold his hand. “But we’re still here. That has to mean something.” 

“It means our friends are too stubborn to let us die.” Lincoln chuckled through his tears. 

“Damn straight.” Robbie said. 

“But seriously, Linc, do you blame Daisy?” Pietro had already seen her this morning. She’d woken up from a nightmare and gone on a run, practically running blind through the campus. They watched her do sixteen loops of the campus until she stopped and headed to the studio, eyes still full of regret and fear. “You did quite the number on her.” 

_See? You broke her again. Just like the roof, remember when she threw her into a fucking wall? She’ll never forgive you._

“Of course I don’t.” He didn’t. It just sort of came out last night and he didn’t mean any of it. He was just projecting his own bullshit onto her and that wasn’t fair. “I don’t blame anyone but HYDRA.” 

“And luckily, they’re all dead.” Trip sighed. 

“I’ll apologise later.” Lincoln swore. How many times would he do this? How many more people would he hurt? “God, I’m such a mess.” 

“A hot mess.” Pietro confirmed, Robbie shot him an outraged look. 

“I’m offended babe.” He said. Pietro rolled their eyes and kissed their boyfriend. 

“You’re my favourite hot mess.” 

“Ugh, you two sicken me.” Trip pretended to gag. Lincoln laughed slightly, the weight in his chest loosening ever so slightly, he could get just that tiny bit of clean air. 

“Do you think they’re watching us? Joey and Lottie and Davis, I mean?” Lincoln asked once the laughter died down. He looked at their pictures on the wall, group shots or candids or the portraits Daisy made in the hospital. 

They all looked so happy back then. He focused on the picture Darcy took when they practiced their first dance. They were going to dance to You Are My Sunshine. They just looked so in love, so peaceful, so utterly clueless of what was going to come. 

He should have savoured those moments. Should have held on tighter to Joey, to that happiness. Three years was not enough time, it was so fucking unfair that it made him sob. He kept staring at the picture, the question hanging in the air as he broke down. 

Joey was _gone._ Dead and cremated and ashes spread in the ocean lining the beach in San Diego, Joey’s favourite place. All Lincoln had left was his ring, his hoodies and pictures. Frozen moments of time he wished he had the power to go back to. 

_”You promise me you won’t mourn forever. I’m dying, Linc, but promise me.” Joey had said. Lincoln had cried and begged and pleaded, blood from the bullet wounds hot and slippery in his hands but held on tight. Joey couldn’t die, not yet._

_“I love you, Sparky. I love you.” Joey whispered, Lincoln sobbed harder, pulling Joey closer. He couldn’t say it back._

_He never said it back._

“I think they can. My mama used to say that when people die, they turn into stardust, watching us from above until we’re ready to join them. When our parents died, me and Wanda picked two stars for them. We sat on a hill in Sokovia, staring at the sky for hours until we found the right ones. I look at them every now and then, tell them about my life, where I’m at now. Wanda does the same. It helps.” Pietro told them. Lincoln could barely hear them over the rushing in his ears but Trip held him close, tears slipping down his face too. 

The four of them sat in comfortable silence, the weight shared by four people. They’d grown up together, ate together, lived together, lost together, but in that moment, they felt closer than they ever had. Four years of history bringing them to this point, crying in a living room in Plymouth. Four years and two boys down. Four years, documented by the pictures on the wall, first loves and first losses and four lives intertwined. 

“Can we do that now?” Lincoln said eventually, his voice hoarse. “Pick some stars?” 

“Of course, Pikachu.” Robbie smiled softly. “I’ll text the others.” 

The Legacies sat on the hill at the back of the campus a half hour later, all laid on their backs staring at the sky. Lincoln interlaced his fingers with Trip’s, the other boy the only one that could understand this the way he did. They weren’t the only ones to lose, but their pain was almost the same. 

“That one’s Davis.” Piper called, pointing at Scutum. They held on tight to Kate whispering, “I miss you.” 

“The shield.” Lila translated, Daisy’s head on her stomach. Daisy looked up at her and smiled softly. Lila stroked her hair, then they looked back up at the sky.

“That’s Lottie.” Trip said, pointing up at Alnair. That was her favourite star. She’d point it out every chance she got, smiling widely at the bright lights above her. Her eyes shone in the darkness, and Trip was always looking at her rather than the sky.

“The bright one.” Wanda whispered, her own eyes growing wet as she identified the star. 

“Joey.” Lincoln said eventually, finger outstretched to point at Columba. He could almost see Joey’s smile, his eyes shining bright back at Lincoln. He smiled too. For once, the world was quiet, still. Clean oxygen flooded his lungs, the dark of late afternoon in England hiding their tears. 

“The dove.” Jules said, Mac kissing her head. “The symbol of peace.” 

And quiet reigned that cold December night on the hill, the Legacies staring up at the stars symbolising their dead friends. Their family watching them from afar. Scutum and Alnair and Columba and Sirius and Corvus and Lyra and Alya and Eridanus and every other star they had named for their people looking at them and smiling. 


	61. Intertwined

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two conversations at the Barton Farm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i give you: dad!clint and soft™️ lesbians 
> 
> i love daisy and lila’s relationship so goddamn much lmfao they’re just soft and cute and they’re everything to me (and yet i keep hurting them sorry :( oops) 
> 
> this chapter is long and sad and also fluffy so have this little mess
> 
> also i think i’ve messed up the barton kids ages i have no idea so go with Cooper being 23, Lila’s 18, Nate’s 9 i don’t think that’s canon at all but go with it time has no concept anymore 
> 
> also also, i can’t remember if i’ve put lila’s eye colour in this before and if i have it might have been different, i genuinely can’t remember (it’s been a long 60 chapters and i don’t want to go searching lmfao) so just go with blue from now on lmfao 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“Hey bug.” Cling says, sitting next to his child on the floor under the table. If she didn’t escape to the Nest, then she always hid under here. 

God, he misses when she was that innocent little five year old, fiddling with his old laptop, planning her own little missions for her and Cooper. 

Those missions would be real next year. He didn’t know how Nat and Bobbi did it when Daisy started training and leaving with BRAVO, and Daisy was younger than Lila. But this is the life they signed up for. 

“Hi Dad.” Lila mumbled, her hands playing with a fidget toy. The yellow fidget cube clicked and spun and rolled, her eyes following its movements. 

“Can I come under?” He asked, nodding to her makeshift cocoon, made from blankets and pillows. Lucky and Flash nuzzled into her, Ulysses was out with Daisy on a walk, and Clint suspected that Lila was meeting them at the Nest later. 

“Sure.” Lila permitted him access. It was a bit of a squeeze, they were both pretty tall. She dwarfed him nowadays, god knows where she’d gotten the height from. Cooper was jealous, his chin jutting out when he stood next to his 5’11 younger sister in the Christmas photo. Same height as his dad, 5’8 and it was looking like Nate was gonna be tall like Lila. 

When did all his babies grow up? Lila was graduating from the Academy next year, Cooper was in his first year of residency after graduating from Stanford for neuroscience, Nate was nearly out of elementary...It was all going far too fast. 

“So, what’s going on with my little archer?” 

“Everything’s wrong, Dad.” Lila said softly. She dropped the fidget toy and started stroking Lucky instead. Her hands shook a little, he put his arm around her. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“Ever since HYDRA, we’ve all just been...out of sync. Daisy’s been drifting, Lincoln’s a mess, Trip’s burying everything, and I...I don’t know how to hold it all together.” Lila admitted. He sighed and tightened his hold. She twisted to put her head against his shoulder. 

“You don’t have to hold it together, baby. You can break or scream or cry or do whatever you want. You kids went through an awful trauma and I’m so sorry about that, but you don’t need to hold it together to be strong.” 

“I just don’t want to be weak. That’s what got me thrown off the roof.” Lila said into his shoulder and he winced slightly, the memory of his child falling four flights and Daisy only just catching her in time flashing in front of his eyes. He blinked, she was here, right in front of him. He didn’t lose her. 

“You are not weak, Lila Barton. You are beautiful and strong and so smart you scare me sometimes. You’ve got a heart so goddamn big it could charm HYDRA, you have gotten through so much crap in the last few years and I’m so bloody proud of you, sweetheart. You’re my little survivor, my angel eyes, my baby girl. You are not weak.” She chuckled slightly even as the tears slipped down her face, eyes still as blue as the day she was born and he held her for the first time, still all bloody and wrinkly and yet, just as perfect as Cooper had been. He swore he felt the world shift when he held her, just like it had the day he met Laura, when he met Nat, when Cooper was born, and again when Nate was born. He looked at her slightly in confusion. “What’s so funny?” 

“You haven’t called me angel eyes since I was about six.” He rolled his eyes at her, she giggled again. “Also, I’m using she/they pronouns lately, just whilst we’re on this emotional train.” 

“Thank you for telling me, I’m proud of you, I love you.” He said almost immediately. She grinned. 

“Today’s a “she” day, so you’re good.” He hugged her again, at least she was joking again. 

“I mean it, bug, you’re not weak okay?” 

“Okay, Dad. Thanks.” He gave her an eskimo kiss like he did when she was little and she swatted him. “I’m gonna go see Daisy.” 

“She’ll be okay too, bug. You both will.” He promised her and if they weren’t then at least they had each other. 

“I love you.” 

“Love you too, sweetheart. Always.” 

* * *

“Hi love.” Lila greeted as she climbed up the ladder to the Nest. Daisy smiled at her from the old throw pillows they had stashed up here, her eyes shining in the soft glow of the fairy lights. 

“Hey baby.” She said, holding out her hand to Lila. Lila took it and let Daisy tug her down to sit opposite her, the cold December wind blowing lightly through the hole in the roof they’ve never gotten fixed, making Lila shiver. Daisy gave her her hoodie immediately, glad that she wore three sizes too big. It was a bit of a shame that they couldn’t really share clothes unless Daisy was stealing hers. 

“We should talk.” Lila said and Daisy groaned. 

“We have said that far too many times in our relationship.” 

“Well, someone decided to have a mental breakdown in second year.” Lila teased. 

“It is so not my fault that I got kidnapped.” Daisy defended. They could joke about it now. 

“No but it did put our love story on hold.” 

“No relationship is worth having unless there is years of mutual pining.” Daisy defended.

“Whatever you say, mon amour tendre.” (my tender love.) Lila grinned, Daisy kissed her. 

“So we’re gonna get all sad now aren’t we?” Daisy said when they broke apart. Lila nodded, trying to find the words. 

“It’s been a hard few months, haven’t it?” She said eventually. 

“That’s an understatement.” 

“But we’re still here.” 

“We are. But sometimes it feels like we’re hanging on by a thread.” Daisy sighed, playing with Lila’s fingers, Ulysses sitting by their feet. 

“To each other?” 

“To everything. Everything changed that day. I can’t go spar with Davis or go to the health supervisor with Lottie or get Joey to make a ring like he made for Lincoln. I can barely even speak to Lincoln nowadays without stopping him from fucking killing himself or getting in a fight with him. And I feel like I’m not doing enough for you.” The last part seemed like a dirty secret Daisy didn’t want to admit. Lila cocked an eyebrow.

”You’re always enough for me.” Daisy shook her head. 

“If I’m not crying or breaking down about something, I’m training or going on mission. I’m not there for you Lila, not like you’ve been for me.” Daisy protested. Lila sighed deeply and brought the hand Daisy wasn’t fidgeting with up to cup Daisy’s face. 

“No, Daisy. You’re wrong. You’re there for me when I need it most and that’s what’s important. You’re there when I don’t even realise I want you there. You were there through every nightmare in the hospital, every physio session, every time I just wanted a distraction. You saved my life Daisy and not just that night you caught me falling. Daisy, my life wouldn’t have been worth anything if you weren’t in it.” Lila told her, the tears falling down both of their cheeks, Daisy leaned into her touch, Lila’s thumb automatically wiping away the tears. 

“I really love you Lila. Like more than I’ve ever loved anything. You were the first kid to ever treat me normally, you barely even blinked when I made your house shake and ran away because I thought I was going to kill you. I hate to quote Coldplay, but you’re my yellow Lila.” Daisy kissed the fingertip that was tracing her jaw. Lila giggled wetly. 

“You really pulled Coldplay, huh?” Lila said, Daisy blushed. “Well then, you’re my guiding star.” 

“You’re my true north.” Daisy retaliated. 

“My sunshine.” 

“My soulmate.” 

“My magnet.”

”My invisible string.” 

“The apple of my eye.” Lila grinned and pulled Daisy into a kiss. Daisy smiled into it, pressing close to Lila, hand threaded in her hair, Lila’s fingers tracing Daisy’s face, memorising it. The scar on her cheek, the high cheekbones, the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled. Daisy’s other hand snaked round her back, tapping soft rhythms against her spine. 

Lila sat in Daisy’s lap, the height difference making the angle awkward but it was still perfect. Daisy tasted like apples and cherry chapstick and salt, their tears still flowing even as they branched into make out territory. 

“You can always talk to me, you know that right?” Daisy blurted when they broke for air. Lila looked at her quizzically. Daisy blushed again, finger still tapping something that felt like Tchaikovsky along her spine. “If you want a cry, or everything’s too much or whatever, you can talk to me.” 

“I know, Zee. You are my girlfriend after all.” Lila rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Now come here, I’ve got an early Christmas present for you.” 

“Is it a new leather jacket?” Daisy had a shit-eating grin and Lila swatted her. 

“Nope. It’s a 5’11, Idahoan, multilingual lesbian sitting in your lap.” 

“Well, this 5’5, technically Russian but technically Chinese but technically American, assassin with more mental illnesses than Pez dispensers would very much enjoy that.” Daisy grinned, Lila sighed at her in despair. 

“You concern me.” 

“You love me so much it makes you want to commit tax evasion.”

“That’s a new one.” Lila said. 

“I’m branching out. Now kiss me.” 

“With pleasure, your honour. The court of sad is now adjourned.” Lila laughed at Daisy’s eye roll, grabbing her and kissing her again. 

“Я люблю тебя.” Daisy whispered. 

“I know that one. I love you too, munchkin.” 


	62. Still Breathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jules has a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i do so many nightmare chapters i’m sorry but it’s literally my fave trope of all time 
> 
> more fluff i’m sure yall will happy to know, still mixed with angst because i’m incapable of writing anything else lmfao 
> 
> WARNINGS: mentions of ptsd, fires, nightmares 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

Jules was sleeping with her head on Mac’s lap, the rest of their friends had already disappeared to bed or what they were now calling “Stargazing and Depression Hill”. Mac smiled down at her, the younger girl looked so peaceful when she slept. How they got to this point, they’d never know. 

Their relationship started as friends with benefits, after way too many margarita’s and the thumping music thrumming in their veins drawing them closer together. It felt like sparks exploded when they kissed Jules, but they didn’t want to assume too quickly. 

But sometime around Christmas, Jules mumbled those three magic words just as Mac was about to...finish her off. Mac froze, the moment immediately crashing around them and Jules seemed to realise what she’d said. They stared for a long time, trying to communicate something neither of them were quite sure how to decipher with just their eyes until Mac grinned. 

_“You love me, huh?” They’d said._

_“Yeah...guess I do. That okay?”_

_“I love you too.” Jules had grinned and leaned forward to kiss Mac, before raising an eyebrow at them._

_“Back to it, then.” She’d giggled._

_“You’re very bossy for a bottom.”_

And then it was just kind of a thing. And Mac was happy for the first time in a long time. 

The leftover beer on the table from their New Years party jumps unexpectedly. Mac watches it dance, the other liquids beginning to follow its jerky rhythm. They look down at the girl in their lap, her face twisted up in fear, shaking slightly. 

Nightmare. 

“Jules...hey, Jules. Wake up, pequeña ola.” (little wave) Mac whispers in her ear, shaking her shoulder slightly. Jules moans in her sleep, kicking uselessly, trying to fight whatever monster she’s seeing in her dream. The drinks bounce and slosh in their cups and bottles. 

“Jules! Wake up.” Mac said a little louder, Jules waking with a start. They steadied her shoulders, letting her get her bearings slowly. The drinks settled. “Hey.” 

“Sorry.” Jules whispered, eyes shining in the moonlight from the open window. They almost glowed amber in the darkness, Mac almost found themselves getting lost in them. 

God, when did they get so sappy? Stupid, pretty girls with bright smiles and sad eyes. 

“You don’t need to apologise, mija.” Mac hushed her. Jules’ bottom lip quivered. “What were you dreaming about?” 

“The fire.” Jules says a little shakily, Mac wraps their arms around her. A few tears escape Jules’ eyes, wetting Mac’s shirt. 

Jules hated how much that stupid fire still affected her. She could barely breathe when she smelled burning, (which happened quite a lot, hardly any of the Legacies were great cooks) anything that looked remotely like a Terrigen crystal set her nerves alight, the sound of everything she’d ever known burning rattled in her ears, forever reminding her of all she’d lost that night. 

And you’d think with everything that had happened since she’d been rescued, the Academy and HYDRA and getting with Mac that she’d be over it. That she’d have moved past the dark cloud that was the commune in Somerset. But it was still a part of her, a part she almost loathed at this point. The bad memories always tainted the good. Jumping in puddles in the rain as a five year old twisted with almost drowning when she was eight, her mum telling stories of blue angels to the kids tangled with her dad screaming at them for knocking over one of the totem poles, her first kiss with Rose mixed with Rose’s screams as she burned in the fire that took the commune. She hated it, so she cried into Mac’s shoulder, their familiar scent almost calming her. 

“Está bien, se acabó, cariño.” (It’s okay, it’s over, honey.) Mac whispered sweet nothings in Spanish and English, rubbing slow circles onto Jules’ back as her tears subsided. “You’re okay.” 

“Kinda dumb that I still cry over that, after everything that’s happened.” Jules said, voice a little hoarse from the tears. Mac handed her a water bottle from the table, smelling it first to make sure it wasn’t vodka or something. 

“What was the first thing you told me when I cried about my moms and my planet, and then got mad about it?” Mac reminded her. 

“It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, if it still hurts then it’s okay to cry.” Jules recited. Lila had drummed it into Daisy, Daisy had drummed it into Jules, Jules had drummed it into Mac. “I just want it to stop hurting.” 

“I know, chula, and I’m sorry. But you’re not alone, you don’t have to carry it on your own. You’ve got me and Darcy and Daisy and Wanda. We love you, I love you. You’re gonna be okay.” Mac promised her, because if nothing else, they would make sure it happened. Jules smiled slightly and kissed Mac. 

“I love you too, babe. But “little bunny”? Really? I’m taller than you!” Jules grinned as Mac swatted her. 

“By an inch. And you’re still not as tall as Lila.” Mac reminded her. 

“That’s because she’s 5’11 and I’m only 5’8. You’re still tiny in all your 5’7 glory.” 

“I will crush you.” Mac rolled their eyes. 

“Aww, I’ve got a crush on you too!” Jules laughed when Mac flipped them on the couch so they were on top. “That’s more like it.” 

“It is half four in the morning, can you two just...not.” Darcy’s tired voice interrupted them. She stood in the doorway with a frown and fluffy Thumper pajamas on. “Like please.” 

“You’re no fun, Lewis.” Mac laughed at her offended look. “What’re you doing up?” 

“Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d watch something in here but if yall are going at it then...” 

“Don’t be daft, come here. We can watch Bake Off.” Jules said, wiping her eyes to get rid of the tear tracks and pushing Mac off her, only to sit in their lap. 

“Why are you two so obsessed with this show?” Mac grumbled, but they opened their other arm to Darcy so she could slip under it. 

“Their accents are soothing.” Darcy said, eyes tired and voice shaky. Nightmares were plaguing her too. 

“Aww, we’re on season nine. Rahul is my favourite person ever.” Jules said when their Netflix booted up. Mac swatted her in mock outrage. “What?” 

“I thought I was your favourite person.” 

“No, it’s Rahul, then Darcy, then Garcia from Criminal Minds, then Wanda, then you.” Jules giggled, Mac tickled her side until she squealed, “mercy!”. Darcy joined in the tickling, and in the end, Mac had both girls sprawled across their lap. 

“Cmon, let’s watch some very British people make cake.” Darcy said when the laughter died down, playing with a fidget toy as the episode started. 

“Love you.” Jules tapped in morse code into Mac’s thigh. 

“You too.” Mac tapped back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> season nine of bake off is my fave and rahul is my all time fave character he’s such an icon


	63. The Ones Left Behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper sits at Davis’ name on his birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh this chapters sad i’m sorry 
> 
> also a lot like the other chapters i’ve done so i’m very sorry hope yall are still liking this 
> 
> WARNINGS: grief, mourning, depression, brief mention of self harm and suicidal thoughts 
> 
> -bex xx

Piper sat in front of the Wall of Valour that stood in every SHIELD facility, school, base, whatever, in the world. The one in the Academy in Plymouth was almost identical to the one in the US. Kids that had died whilst studying at the Academy, named etched into stone. That was all that remained. 

They sat in Davis’ favourite Eminem hoodie, he’d always had a shit taste in music in Piper’s opinion. The amount of car rides they’d had to sit through with shitty rap music blasting through the speakers on the way back to the Academy was a little ridiculous. 

And yet, that’s what they were listening to now. 25 To Life playing in their earphones, wrapped in a hoodie that was far too big for them but felt like Davis’ hugs, staring at his name on the wall. 

In some way, it was almost like they could reach them this way. He should have turned 20 today. January 17th 2002, he was exactly one month older than Piper. And god, he loved to hold that over them, like Pietro did with Wanda. 

If Piper looked up at the sky now, they would see the star they named for Davis, Scutum. Shining just as brightly as he did. That was the thing about Davis, he was reliable. If Piper was having a bad day, or needed a spar or a rant or anything, he always made time and had their favourite candy ready. He was the first person they told they were a lesbian, that they were non-binary, about their shitty parents. 

But he’s gone. It’s been nearly nine months and Piper still expects him to be in the gym or to tease them for being overly affectionate with Kate or race with Daisy on their motorbikes. And they know that he’s gone, that all they have left is a name on a wall and a hoodie and his favourite music, but sometimes, they just forget. 

“It’s cold out here, babe.” Kate says, sitting next to her partner, placing one of the earphones in her own ear. 

Eminem. Of course. 

“Davis always hated the cold.” Piper whispered, sliding closer to Kate. 

“I was there when we stayed at Providence, trust me I know he hated the cold.” Kate rolled her eyes, remembering Davis’ whining about the constant snow up in the Canada base. 

“Remember he would never leave us alone because he thought we would be doing it every time he turned his back?” Piper chuckled slightly. Memories were really all they had left. 

“To be fair, he wouldn’t have been wrong.” Kate admitted. “But we weren’t as bad as he thought.” 

“According to Darcy, Jules and Zee were that summer.” 

“Are we surprised? Those two were just walking sexual tension.” Kate groans. 

“Are Wanda and Mac still sleeping?” Piper asked. It was only four in the morning. They just wanted some quiet time to mourn before life started up again. 

“Like little angels.” Kate replied, putting her arm around Piper’s shoulder. “He’d be proud of you.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. His ghost told me so.” Kate giggled at Piper’s shove. 

“Fuck off. Ghost jokes are off limits.” 

“Oh come on, you know he loved them.” Kate defended. It was true, Davis had always said not to mourn him for too long when he died. 

_“Make as many jokes as you want. I’m dead, it’s not like I can take offence.” He’d said one day when they were training._

_“Bit morbid there.” Trip laughed, Robbie taking the opportunity to flatten him to the mats. “Again?”_

_“I mean it. Plenty of material comes from the dearly departed.” Davis had continued, an easy smile playing on his face._

If only they’d known. 

“But I mean it, Pipes. He would have been really proud of you.” Kate continued. Piper shrugged and looked back to his name. It was the first on the list, the date starkly printed like the ones on their wrists. 

“You don’t think people die that young, do you?” Piper said softly. “That it can happen to your friends or partner. Death is something that happens to other people.” 

“Daisy said something about it a while back. When she was in the Red Room, girls used to die all the time, she got used to it. Death was something normal in her world, something as routine as brushing your teeth. It didn’t make it hurt any less, it probably hurt more to be honest, but she learned that not everyone is meant to stick around. Some people will die, but the world doesn’t end.” Kate told them, spelling the names of the fallen onto Piper’s thigh as Piper let a few tears fall, still staring at the Wall of Valour. 

“But it still feels like the world ended anyway. Like when he died, we all died too.” Piper admits. Kate sighs and makes Piper look her in the eyes. 

“But we didn’t. We are still alive, breathing. We might be broken and bruised but we are still here and that means something. All those stars up there want us to live, to thrive. Don’t throw it away.” Kate was skilled at reading between the lines when it came to Piper. It wasn’t impossible to see where that train of thought had been leading, they’d been watching it with Lincoln and Trip too. Kate didn’t want to walk into a bathroom to see Piper with cuts lining their arms again or even worse, not see Piper ever again. 

“I’m not. I know we have to live so they didn’t die in vain, but it hurts Katie. It hurts so fucking much.” Piper sobbed hard into Kate’s shoulder, the first rays of morning light casting shadows over their intertwined bodies as Piper cried. Kate rubbed their back and brought the hood over their head, allowing Davis’ cologne to fill their air. Even after all this time it still smelled like him. 

Kate knew that nothing she could say would properly help Piper right now, all she could do was be there. A tether to the world, a constant. She held her partner, whispering soft assurances and sweet nothings as Piper shook in her arms. Internally, she cursed everything that had led them to this point. 

Piper’s tears subsided eventually. They kissed Kate’s forehead, their way of saying thank you. Kate smiled softly. 

“Better?”

”Better.” Piper agreed. Maybe that was just what they needed. Davis’ hoodie and his shitty music and their partner. 

“Love you.” Kate smiled. 

“Love you too, Katie-Kat.” Something caught their eye. “Romanoff’s awake.” 

“It’s like half five, I’m not surprised. Girl works on Australian time.” Kate grinned, looking at her phone. “You ready to go?” 

“Give me a minute?” Piper asked. 

“Sure. I’ll go get coffee with Morse, meet you there?” Kate said, waving to Daisy, who was just finishing her run. 

“See you soon.” Piper smiled as Kate kissed them goodbye, standing to leave, giving Piper back their other earphone. 

Piper took a deep breath once Kate had caught up with Daisy and headed off to the coffee shop. They wrapped their arms tighter around themself, breathing in Davis’ cologne. 

“Happy birthday, idiot. I miss you a fuckton, but I hope you’re happy wherever you are.” They said, placing a small birthday card at the foot of the Wall, tracing his name on the stone and then on their wrist. “Happy birthday.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m very sorry if you’re an eminem fan i’m just not into it


	64. (Found) Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila’s birthday dinner and they’re missing Daisy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i hate this chapter lmfao it’s really boring tbh so i’m very sorry lol 
> 
> i don’t remember giving lila a middle name but she has one now so again, just roll with it lol 
> 
> there’s light angst in this but it’s mainly just lila pining or being worried about their gf tbh 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“So, we are gathered here to celebrate our favourite mom friend, Lila Muriel Barton.” Jules announced to the table. Lila rolled their eyes at the use of their middle name. Stupid grandmother insisting her name be given to one of her grandchildren. 

“Happy birthday Lila!” The rest of the Legacies chorused, a grin crossing their face. They always went all out for birthdays unless they couldn’t be together or they missed it, like they did when Daisy turned 15 but that was HYDRA’s fault, or when Kate turned 19 but again that was HYDRA’s fault because Kate’s birthday was April 29th and their friends had just died and Lila and Daisy were still in hospital. 

It was times like this that Lila could almost pretend they were okay. That they weren’t constantly on edge waiting for Daisy’s text, worried that something happened to her. 

Daisy was on mission in Saudi Arabia. BRAVO had been called in to rescue some kidnapped agents after they went undercover to infiltrate some terrorist organisation or something, they didn’t have all the details. It was a major stealth op, one of those ones that almost scream “WARNING: SOMETHINGS GOING TO GO WRONG.” and no one was listening. 

This would be the first time since they met that Daisy would miss Lila’s birthday if she didn’t make it back tonight. She’d been gone almost a week and a half. Every day that Lila didn’t receive an encrypted text from Daisy was another day that fear ate away at them. 

“Thanks guys.” They said softly, trying to ignore the gaping hole their girlfriend left behind. They understood Lincoln and Trip a lot more when Daisy was called away, how loss can change a person. 

And then they feel like a piece of shit because Daisy is probably fine and just has bad cell service or something, it’s Saudi Arabia, Lila wouldn’t expect her to get four bars. 

“Nineteen whole years of Barton, how does it feel?” Robbie asked, worry in his eyes whenever Lila checked their phone. Everyone always worried about Daisy, she was the first one to leave their little Academy bubble and go out into the big, bad world with BRAVO, but Lila and Robbie always felt it more. 

It was weird to think about. They were graduating in two months. They’d officially be SHIELD agents, moving to Strike Teams or labs or the Triskellion or wherever. They all had offers, even from different agencies, they could kind of go anywhere.

“Like it did yesterday, dingus. It’s not like the world suddenly changed now I’m nineteen.” Lila laughed at his eye roll. 

“Does everyone have plans after graduation?” Mac asked, changing the subject which Lila was grateful for. 

“Three years of residency and then I’ll be a qualified doctor.” Lincoln said. He’d been working hard with his therapist to get him back on track and even though he missed Joey every day, he was finally on a good path. 

“Don’t you already have a doctorate and a PHD?” Trip interjected. “Like aren’t you already qualified?” 

“Technically, but I still need to do residency before I’m certified.” Lincoln explained. 

“Well, I’m shortlisted for Strike Team HOTEL.” Trip said, taking a drink from his coke. They’d all agreed to go alcohol free for a little while, mainly to help Lincoln but also so they could go all out at graduation and prom. 

“Same!” Piper and Kate exclaimed. 

“Well, I got listed for TANGO as well. They don’t want couples on the same team.” Kate sighed. 

“That would make sense. You can’t make unbiased decisions if your partner’s in trouble.” Lila said. The only reason Coulson and May were allowed on the Bus team when they were together was because Fury couldn’t spilt them up or they’d quit. It wasn’t such a big deal now that Coulson was Director, but they still tried to dissuade it avoid heartbreak. 

But that seemed to happen anyway in this world. Just ask Lincoln or Trip or Piper. 

“What about the Wonder Twins?” Piper asked Pietro and Wanda. 

“The Avengers wanted us. We turned them down.” Wanda told them, receiving shocked looks. Technically, the Avengers wanted all of the Legacies, but not all of them had received offers yet. 

And most of them would turn it down anyway, choosing to stay with SHIELD, with what they’d known for years. The Avengers were mostly just a “break glass in case of emergency” nowadays, and most of them were retiring anyway. The new generation was growing up and into their positions. 

“I only go in the field if I need to, I like working in the labs. What would be the point in accepting the new Avengers proposal?” Wanda explained. 

“And I like working with SHIELD. I’m pretty sure me and Daisy and Jules got the same team offer anyway.” Pietro said and Jules nodded. 

“They want us to be the new Strike Team DELTA, with Barton and Romanoff retiring. Didn’t Robbie get that offer too?” Jules explained. 

“I did, but I wasn’t going to take it. If Daisy moves to DELTA then BRAVO want me to take her place.” Robbie said. “I don’t want to have to make a decision if something happened to Tro on a mission we were on.” 

“What about you Darce?” Mac asked. 

“They want me to lead the new cyber-engineering team. Building new computers, new software, portals to other planets, new phones, all the gear yall use.” Darcy listed off. 

“Portals to other planets?” Jules questioned. 

“It’s a work in progress.” Darcy grinned. “What about Mac?” 

“Same team as Jules and Zee and Pietro.” Mac answered with a shrug. 

“And you, Barton?” Darcy circled back to Lila. 

“Triskellion. I’ll be back-ending all of your missions.” Lila smiled. “Or yknow, FBI want me.” 

“Oh come on, FBI, CIA and MI5 contacted all of us with offers, it’s not like we’re gonna take them.” Robbie laughed. 

“You don’t wanna become a profiler like in Criminal Minds?” Jules asked. 

“You watch too much tv.” Robbie answered with a smirk, Jules pouted. He got water flicked in his face for that one. 

“Wow, I’m missing quite to party.” A familiar voice interrupted them. The Legacies turned to door of the cafeteria they’d taken over for the night to find a very dusty, (and slightly bloody) Daisy. 

“You were supposed to text me when you got back!” Lila exclaimed as they ran over to their girlfriend. “Is that blood yours?” 

“Oh...” Clearly, Daisy hadn’t even realised her tac suit had blood on it. “Probably not.” 

“Probably?” Lila pressed. They didn’t want to hug Daisy too hard if it was gonna hurt. 

“She means that she doesn’t know if the blood is from when she cracked her head on the floor or from when she got stabbed or when she shot one of the kidnappers.” Sharon supplied helpfully behind them. She was always charged with bringing Morse-Romanoff back somehow, but she got to see Trip, so it wasn’t really a big deal. 

“You got stabbed?” Lila said 

“Lightly.” Daisy defended. “I got very lightly stabbed.” 

“You said that last time.” Sharon reminded her, Daisy glared. “Go on, go shower and cuddle with your partner.” 

“Thanks, Carter.” Daisy half-mumbled, practically falling asleep standing up now she was home. “Happy birthday, butterfly.” 

“I thought you were gonna miss it.” Lila said softly, picking Daisy up like they always did when Daisy got back from missions. It was their way of making sure the other was okay before they processed. 

“Have I ever missed your birthday since we met?” Daisy said, eyes struggling to stay open even though she knew she needed to shower to dust and dirt and grime off and make sure Lila had a good birthday night. 

“Did you get the hostages out?” Lila asked, ignoring the question because they both knew the answer was no. 

“We lost two of them. But the other six got out fine. Did I miss anything at your birthday dinner?” 

“We talked about the future.” Lila told her, nearing their dorm. Daisy held on tighter as they went up the stairs, her breath tickling Lila’s neck so Daisy kissed her. 

“I missed you.” Daisy whispered. 

“You too, baby.” 


	65. Close

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Lila the morning after Lila’s birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i love soft lesbians™️ so much and dalila are my fave so i give you this 
> 
> there’s smut in this but i marked off where it gets steamy so you can finish the chapter there if you want to :) 
> 
> WARNINGS: smut, kind of subspace 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

At 05:27 the morning after Lila’s birthday, all the Legacies phones lit up. 

Little Legacies 

quakingbad: can everyone avoid the 

quakingbad: Hand showers and dorm for 

quakingbad: a while pls :) 

h2oqueen: yall are so horny on main 

tasernightmare: u and z did it for ages 

tasernightmare: let them fuck in peace 

quakingbad: thank u for the support 

JRrobinhood: well get coffee for yall 

JRrobinhood: also pls go to sleep tf 

sonic: ur one to talk now hush go fuck 

quakingbad: once again, thank u 

quakingbad: lila hurry ur ass 

JRrobinhood: coming promise 

JRrobinhood: or i will be soon ;) 

ghostrider: pls stop 

pikachu: please 

howlingwolf: p l e a s e 

JRrobinhood: ;) go to sleep bbys 

“I love screwing with them in that chat.” Daisy grins as Lila finally walks into the bathroom. She’s had about four hours of sleep, she’s good to go. 

“They’re gonna bully us later.” Lila sighs, turning the shower on and locking the door. Daisy was still in her tac suit from the mission, Lila in her mom’s high school track team hoodie and shorts. Once they’d gotten back to their room, they’d had four hours of blissful peace for Daisy to top and give Lila her birthday present, (well, one of them, the white gun with gold accents had been a very nice touch, and also very Daisy) and then they’d promptly passed out and Daisy hadn’t even changed. She still had blood and dust coating her body but honestly she didn’t care last night. She just needed Lila. 

“Bring them coffee and tea and shit and they’ll forgive everything.” Daisy said, sitting on the bathroom counter. The boilers here sucked major ass, so they always had to wait ages for them to heat up. “You wanna top?” 

As they got older and the trust between them somehow managed to grow, they found it much easier to switch in bed. That meant a lot for Daisy, and Lila knew it. Daisy trusted Lila with her body now, trusted herself enough to not bring the roof down or something when she came. Also, Daisy was just very tired of pretending to be strong all the fricking time. 

“Well you topped last night so I think it would be fair.” Lila replied, removing her hoodie so she was just in her bra and pajama shorts, Daisy’s eyes skirting her body in the way that gave her goosebumps. 

“I didn’t realise this was a turns-about system.” Daisy said, pulling Lila in for a lengthy kiss. Daisy still tasted of gunfire and blood, remnants of the battles in Saudi Arabia Lila hadn’t been able to kiss away yet. Daisy grinned into the kiss, her tongue exploring Lila’s mouth. Lila tasted like she always did, coconut and mint and coming home, Daisy's favourite taste in the world. 

“Let me wash your hair?” Lila asked when they broke apart, a little breathless and starry eyed and Daisy thought she was falling for her all over again. 

“Please?” Daisy consented, kissing Lila’s jaw and her nose, following the pattern of her freckles, drawing out constellations on her spine. Lila blushed at the actions, fingers deftly unlacing Daisy’s boots before she got lost in the motions. 

She slid Daisy’s boots off and leaned them against the door, her socks going too, leaving Daisy barefoot. Daisy pulled her in again to kiss her, hands tracing Lila’s ribs, reading under her bra but never going any further. 

“The shower heated up yet?” Daisy asked, lips adorably kissed. Lila checked the water again and nodded, they both loved scalding hot showers so it had to be the right temperature. 

“Can I...?” Lila nodded to Daisy’s suit. Daisy smiled softly and nodded, guiding Lila’s hands to the zipper on the front. Lila pulled it slowly, kissing every inch of skin revealed as the jacket fell away. Daisy moaned softly when Lila kissed the tender skin over her collarbones, back arching a little when Lila’s fingers traced her tattoos. 

“Patience, little love. Time for that later.” Lila brought her back down, using the “don’t push it, I’m in charge right now” tone that Daisy loved. Look, she loved topping, but when it was just her and Lila and no one was watching or judging or whatever, she really loved being all subby and whatnot. 

Balance is always important in one’s sexual life. 

Daisy nodded and forced herself to concentrate on anything but Lila’s skin just inches from her face as Lila got her to lift her hips a little to slide down her tac pants, leaving her in only her underwear. 

“You’re wearing too many clothes.” Daisy told Lila, feeling a tad exposed in the heated bathroom. 

“Come on then.” Lila grinned when Daisy rolled her eyes and hopped off the counter, following Lila the short distance to the showers. They removed their underwear before they got in, Lila’s eyes scanning Daisy’s body for fresh injuries she should avoid, finding a bruised shoulder and the stab wound that Sharon had mentioned in the space between her ribs. Daisy got lucky that it wasn’t more the left. 

There was nothing inherently sexual about the time they spent in the shower, for all the flirting they’d done outside. Daisy sat on the floor under the water spray, Lila stood behind her, shampooing her hair. 

The last time they’d done this had been over two years ago, when Daisy first came back from HYDRA. The water in the shower had turned red as it flowed down the drain, an entire month of god knows what washing off Daisy’s skin. Daisy hadn’t spoke yet, but Robbie said she’d spoken in the car so Lila was just waiting for her to make the first move. 

Lila blinked to get rid of the memories of a younger, traumatised Daisy with haphazard stitches in her leg and fresh scars on her mind. She leans down once she’s lathered up Daisy’s hair, and kisses the bullet wound on her shoulder from HYDRA. Daisy looks up at her and grins. 

They follow that pattern, Lila washes away the dirt and grime from the mission, kisses a scar or two and Daisy smiles the whole time. 

“Let me do yours?” Daisy asks once Lila’s conditioned her hair, smelling a lot more natural now. The trade positions, although Lila comes up at least halfway up Daisy’s body when she sits, unlike Daisy who only reaches Lila’s thighs when she sits down. Stupid tall person. 

Lila doesn’t have as many scars as Daisy, and for that Daisy’s grateful. She kisses freckles or the birthmark on her back instead, Lila’s blueberry scented shampoo and conditioner filling the air around them, overpowering Daisy’s coconut one. 

They finish the shower and turn the water off, dragging themselves out of the warm shower stall and into the bathroom. They both look a little more relaxed now, Lila pressed a kiss to Daisy’s forehead, wrapping a towel around herself in case they encounter anyone on the walk back to the dorm. 

They make it back to the dorm in record time, thankfully finding it empty, though Darcy and Jules left them strongly worded, though very encouraging notes. Their hair is still dripping from the shower, coconut and blueberry mixing to create the perfect scent. 

Daisy sits on the bed, still in her towel and gestures for Lila to sit in front of her. Lila complies then looks up at her expectantly. 

“Turn around idiot, I wanna braid your hair.” Daisy giggled. 

“That’s kinda gay.” Lila laughed. She turned around all the same, Daisy raking the comb through her hair. 

“We just washed each other’s hair and are about to have sex, but this is gay?” Daisy questioned, separating three tiny strands of hair on the left side of Lila’s head to start dutch braids. 

“Absolutely.” Lila said firmly, moaning softly when Daisy raked her nails through her hair to get the next section. 

Daisy told her what she could about the mission whilst finishing the braids. They’d staked out the compound before infiltrating, Daisy got to blow the doors off the entrance which was a lot of fun. Stopping the bomb they had rigged however, was not. Nor was shooting the guy who stabbed her, but BRAVO let her keep Twizzlers on the jet, so it wasn’t all bad. 

Like in the shower, they switched positions so Lila could braid Daisy’s hair, twisting the purple streaked locks into french braids. Daisy’s finger tapped against the floor, trying to release the unkempt energy building in her body. Lila rolled her eyes but made no comment. Daisy was always in impatient, whiny bottom when Lila topped, and Lila fucking loved it. 

“Alright, come here before you burst.” Lila said, Daisy turning immediately and pouncing on her, pulling her into an almost bruising kiss. 

******************************************************************

Lila grinned as Daisy removed her towel, barely stopping before taking off her own. Lila flipped them so she was on top, Daisy moaned as Lila dragged her nails across her ribs. 

Lila moved down Daisy’s body, sucking gently on the skin at her neck, creating tiny purple marks that could barely be classed as a hickey, but Robbie would probably tease them anyway. Daisy tangled her fingers in Lila’s hair, moaning softly as Lila hit the spot that always made her back arch. 

“ _Lila..._ ” Daisy groaned as Lila’s mouth encircled her right nipple. Lila smirked, running her teeth over it making Daisy moan again. Lila raked her nails up and down Daisy’s ribs as she played with her nipple with her teeth, causing Daisy to become a squirming mess. It was always fun getting Daisy to this point. 

And as much as Daisy loved topping Lila, she fucking _loved_ letting Lila take control. 

“Green?” Lila asked once she’d finished with Daisy’s breasts. Daisy nodded frantically, biting her lip. Lila frowned and tapped her lips. “I need a verbal answer baby.” 

“Green.” Daisy mumbled, blushing slightly. “Sorry.” 

“Don’t apologise, just try to remember. You know we don’t do anything without full verbal consent.” Lila reminded her, knowing Daisy knew this full well, considering it was her that implemented the rule. But if she was forgetting, then Lila was doing a great job of getting her nearer to subspace, something they didn’t even could happen until Daisy got Lila there by accident one time. 

“I consent. _Please_ , Lila.” Daisy arched back again for emphasis, Lila laughed a little. 

“Someone’s feeling needy.” Lila teased, Daisy rolled her eyes. 

“I spent a week and a half in fucking Saudi Arabia, pretending to be an adult. Of course I’m needy, now _please_.” Daisy whined. 

“Okay, mon amour.” Lila whispered against Daisy’s skin as she kissed her way down Daisy’s torso, fingers tracing her tattoos and lips tracing the scars. Daisy moaned again, tugging slightly on Lila’s braids. 

Lila finally reached her final destination, Daisy wet and wanting beneath her. She looked back up at her girlfriend to check this was okay. Daisy looked her directly in the eye, nodding. 

“Please, butterfly.” She whispered, Lila smiled again and pressed a kiss to Daisy’s clit, feeling Daisy’s hand tighten on her braids again before loosening. Lila shifted Daisy’s legs so they were over her shoulders, so she had better access. 

She ran the flat of her tongue along Daisy’s slit, the girl shuddering beneath her. Lila refocused her efforts on Daisy’s clit, sucking on it gently as her finger came up to tease Daisy’s entrance. 

Daisy whined softly as Lila’s finger entered, gripping the sheets beneath her. Lila slowly pumped her finger in and out, never taking her eyes off Daisy’s face, making sure she was okay because in all honesty, they didn’t do this all that often for all they were switching these days. 

“ _Mehr, Schmetterliqng_.” (More, butterfly.)Daisy moaned softly, Lila inserted another finger, pumping them both at the same time. Daisy whined, as Lila ran her teeth over her clit. 

“Черт, быстрее Лила, пожалуйста!” (Fuck, faster Lila, please!) And Lila had finally learned enough Russian, (even if it was just the dirty words) to understand what that meant. She increased her speed, crooking her fingers slightly, still running her teeth and sucking on Daisy’s clit. 

Daisy was a writhing mess under Lila, her head wonderfully clear. Nothing but Lila’s skin against hers, safety and home. The bed shook a little bit as Daisy reached her climax, Lila sped up a bit again, making Daisy scream through her teeth. 

“Come on baby, come on.” Lila coaxed softly, adding a third finger and biting Daisy’s clit this time knowing it would drive the girl nuts. Daisy’s entire shuddered, something fell off a shelf as her control on her powers slipped just a little. “Just a little more, come on.” 

Daisy finally came with a sharp cry, body jerking as it wracked her body. Lila held her through the aftershocks, fingers going at a gentle pace. Daisy moaned through the process, writhing under her partner, hips bucking in ecstasy. 

She came down eventually, Lila took her fingers out gently, kissing Daisy’s clit one last time. Daisy tapped her shoulder to bring her up for a kiss.

”You okay?” Lila asked tentatively, once they’d kissed. She hadn’t seen Daisy like that before, all subby and soft and shaky after sex. 

“Отлично, просто усталая бабочка, спасибо.” (Perfect, just tired butterfly, thank you.) Daisy mumbled, eyes all starry. Her body trembled a bit, and she didn’t know what had happened either but oh well, she was happy. 

“English?” Lila asked, because she hadn’t picked up that much Russian. 

“Je vais bien, je vous aime.” (I’m fine, love you.) Daisy grinned because Lila rolled her eyes. English felt very far away right now, foreign languages were easier. 

“Best birthday ever.” Lila whispered, slotting Daisy under her arm, encircling her. Their bodies always just fit together, craving the closeness and familiarity the other brought. 

Yeah, best birthday ever. 


	66. Prom Night (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legacies get ready for prom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah that’s literally all it is, just them being sappy and getting ready for prom 
> 
> it’s so fluffy i hate it lmfao 
> 
> yes pietro is wearing a dress to prom because i said so they look amazing okay i love them 
> 
> also we hit 100k words yesterday! and it was with smut so i don’t really know what to do with that but oh well, this is the longest thing i’ve ever written so thanks for sticking around! 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Jules asked as they got ready in the Hand living room. The boys were getting ready in their own dorm, planning to meet them in the square. 

“What is?” Lila asked as they hairsprayed Wanda’s curls. Wanda’s hair fell in neat curls, braided at the top, a style stolen from old Sokovian magazines they found online. It worked with her red sleeveless dress, the front stopping at her knees and flowing down at the back. 

“That it’s ending.” Jules answered, trying not to frown as Darcy did her eyeliner. She’d opted for an emerald green dress, her hair in two pancaked dutch braids that went down her back. She’d stolen Wanda’s bracelets for the night as well, but the silver metal matched Mac’s dress. 

Mac had surprised them all with wearing a dress, they’d expected them to wear a tux like Piper or Daisy or Kate, but instead they’d chosen a silvery strapless dress with a flowy skirt, even if they were wearing doc martens underneath. 

“Academy, you mean?” Lila clarified, turning the curler off. Their own dress was a deep purple, a crushed velvet gown that accentuated every curve and muscle perfectly. Daisy’s ring glinted in the light. 

“Yeah, I mean we graduate in like a week and then we’re all moving to Big SHIELD, it’s just weird. Like we’re leaving our little bubble.” Jules lamented, Darcy grabbing her chin a little roughly when she moved her eyebrows. 

“It’s not like it’s forever, most of us are getting assigned to the same base to stay.” Kate pointed out. Her tux was all black and something her mother would have hated. She loved it. 

“I know but it’s not like we’ll just be down the hall from each other or even sharing the same room.” Jules carried on. Darcy rolled her eyes and gave up with her makeup if Jules was gonna get all emotional. She fixed her own dress, a pale pink strapless number that had the occasional strand of glitter running through it. 

“Maybe that’ll be a good thing.” Darcy said, with a pointed look at Lila because no, she hadn’t forgotten getting kicked out of her room at half five in the morning. 

“Piss off, Lewis, you love my company.” Lila rolled their eyes. 

“Oh yeah sure I do, I just don’t appreciate getting kicked out of bed at stupid o’clock.” Darcy grumbled. 

“Didn’t you end up in Wanda’s bed anyway?” Daisy pointed out, fidgeting with her sleeve, finger tapping against the table. She didn’t really get nervous about stuff like this, and even though the fourth year population was small, it was gonna be a big crowd of people in one room. She still hated that no matter how long it had been. 

Daisy, Piper and Kate had gone tux shopping with the boys whilst the other girls went dress shopping. The people in the tailors had been mightily confused but Daisy pulled the “daughter of the Black Widow and I have her on speed dial, I’m also an assassin would you like to mess with me?” card and no further judgement was cast. Daisy had gone for a suit the same colour as Lila’s dress but a different material. She’d also picked a tux in black with red accents for her moms wedding in June. 

“It’s the principle of that matter.” Darcy protested, rolling her eyes when Daisy and Lila and Wanda smirked. “Is everyone ready?”

”Pretty much yeah.” Mac answered, looking around the room at their friends, grinning. When they first landed on this planet they never thought they could have this. A family, friends, a girl they loved. They never thought they could find happiness like that again but they did, standing here in a room full of people with dresses and tuxes and powers and skills and binds tying them to each other. Mac might not have the tattoo on their left wrist to match the others, they hadn’t known Davis or Lottie or Joey, but they still felt like they belonged to something. 

“Wait! Pictures, dumb dumbs!” Darcy cried before they started leaving, grabbing her camera from the table and setting up the timer so it would take them itself. 

They all struck poses and the camera kept clicking, catching them in candid moments or stupid in-between poses. Darcy swiped through them once they were finished, everyone grabbing jackets or umbrellas because it was England after all, it wouldn’t be April if it wasn’t raining. She grinned at just how happy they looked in those snapshots, how far they’d come from the start of this year. No one was fully healed or even beginning to fully process any of what had happened but they were okay for right now. 

“Come on Lewis! You’re my date tonight!” Wanda called to her as she put the camera down, emailing the pictures to her own computer and everyone else’s. 

“Alright, alright, I’m coming.” She smiled at Wanda who held out her jacket, grabbing it and kissing Wanda on the cheek. “Come on, Maximoff, we’ve got a prom to attend.” 

“Shove off Lewis.” Wanda rolled her eyes but took Darcy’s hand all the same. 

The rain beat down hard as they ran through the square catching the boys on the way and sprinting to the hall at the other end that was already lit up. Daisy ended up putting up a quake shield to try and stop the rain ruining their looks, as Wanda floated umbrellas above their heads. 

“Looking good dudes.” Trip grinned at them all as they slowed their pace nearing the door. The boys all had basically the same tux, just in different colours. Trip’s was black with white accents, but his tie and pocket square matched Lincoln’s deep blue suit. Robbie wore a black suit with his leather jacket on top and his shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest. His shirt and pocket square however, still matched Pietro’s outfit. 

Pietro had decided to finally get that dress they could run through fields in, a deep red gown that matched Wanda’s except it was a different style, and wearing Robbie’s leather gloves. Somehow, they pulled it off. 

“Yall ready?” Jules asked as they got to the door, the music already pumping out. Daisy tensed so Lila grabbed her hand to stop her from bolting. 

“Zwanzig-Minuten-Regel.” (Twenty minutes rule.) Lila whispered, Daisy set her jaw and nodded. 

“Let’s go party.” Darcy grinned and pushed open the door. 


	67. Prom Night(part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three different conversations whilst dancing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story is nearly over and i’m sad about it ngl 
> 
> this chapter is just some dalila, ghostsilverfly, and scarlettaser (wanda and darcy brotp) and i like it kinda 
> 
> also this chapter is super short sorry lol higher maths is kicking my ass, as is all my other subjects lmao 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

The Legacies joined the thrum of their classmates, the pounding music almost bouncing the sea of dresses and tuxes. Something that sounded like 5 Seconds of Summer was playing, but no one was really sure. 

They jumped and bounced and danced as the songs began to fade together, an endless string of rhythm. Daisy ended up on Robbie’s shoulders at some point, giggling as Darcy sat on Trip’s. 

The dance floor cleared a little eventually as a slower song came on, people going to grab drinks or a breather. 

“May I have this dance?” Daisy held out a hand to Lila, letting their steady vibrations rush through her to calm her racing mind of the people around her. 

“Like you even have to ask.” Lila laughed, Daisy tugging them towards the dance floor. It reminded them of their anniversary on the beach, slow dancing to soft music except “cowboy like me” by Taylor Swift was playing instead of Hozier. It was perfect all the same. 

“Jules was right, yknow.” Daisy murmured, her head just under Lila’s chin. 

“About what?” Lila asked, tilting Daisy’s chin up, her brown eyes sparkling in the dimmed lighting. 

“It’s all ending and it’s weird.” Daisy said. “I don’t want it to end.” 

“That’s true, but it doesn’t mean everything has to change, love. We’ve just got new adventures to go on.” Lila kissed her, Daisy’s hands threading in her hair. They pulled away and the two of them swayed, the soft strings of the song guiding them. 

“You sound like Coulson.” Daisy told them, gaining a laugh. 

“Well I am going into Comms.” Lila sighed. “One more week of normality first.” 

“One more week.” Daisy agreed, dipping Lila even though Lila was taller. Lila came back up and kissed her again. “And then you have to write up all my mission reports.” 

“I hate you.” 

“I love you too milaya.” Daisy grinned.

* * *

“So tell me, which offer did you end up taking?” Robbie asked his partner as they danced, a slightly faster song playing as they joined Daisy and Lila on the floor. Robbie slid his hands around Pietro’s waist, the dress silky and smooth beneath his fingers, his own leather gloves on Pietro’s hands on the back of his neck. 

“DELTA obviously, how could you split up the gang?” Pietro said, nodding to Lila and Daisy. “Someone has to keep the lesbians under control.” 

“They’re not even on a Team together, my pretty little dumb dumb.” Robbie laughed. 

“Well then, me and Daisy can keep the other lesbians in check.” They nodded to Mac and Jules across the floor, hardly breaking eye contact. 

“I’m sure you will.” Robbie said, turning Pietro under his hand, the dress twirling as they went. 

“What about you, dorogaya?” Pietro asked. 

“I took BRAVO’s offer, since Zee took DELTA’s.” Robbie said. “I’m gonna miss not waking up to you every morning.” 

“If anyone can make it work, it’s us. I love you, ghost-boy, I’m not letting you go that easily.” Pietro promised, kissing their boyfriend, Robbie’s lips tasting like ash and fire and salt like they always did. 

“You know, you’re really pulling off the whole leather and lace look.” Robbie commented. “I like it.” 

“Well the gloves are yours babe.” Pietro laughed, but they raked a gloved hand through Robbie’s hair all the same. 

“I know we don’t do it here but if we did, I’d totally vote for you for Prom Queen.” Robbie said. Pietro grinned and kissed him again. 

“Only if you can be Prom King.” 

“Oh I didn’t realise that was in question.” 

* * *

“You know I’m really glad you’re my date, Darce.” Wanda decided when her and Darcy went for drinks. They sat on the seats provided, watching their friends dance together. It was a song Wanda didn’t recognise but Darcy was tapping her foot along to it. 

“Obviously, I’m great.” Darcy grinned, Wanda rolled her eyes. “But I’m glad you’re my date too.” 

“We’re in the same lab at the Triskellion aren’t we?” Wanda checked, Darcy nodded. 

“Yup, different team but same lab. Aren’t most of us based there?” Darcy asked, sipping her drink, (which had definitely been spiked with vodka, and it was weak vodka so it was definitely Kate who did it). 

“I think so. At least we can stay together, I think a lot of us would go nuts without each other.” Wanda admitted. 

“However, it will be nice to get a break from sharing rooms all the time.” Darcy grinned at Wanda’s eye roll. “Cmon, you’re telling you’re not looking forward to privacy?” 

“Sleeping in a room on my own would be nice. No seeing into other people’s nightmares unless it’s really bad.” Darcy squeezed her hand. “No engineering specialists jumping in my bed at all hours.” 

“Aww come on, you love it.” Darcy teased back, and then the Cha Cha Slide came on. “Oh my god, come on, we have to dance to this!” 

“What-“ but Wanda was already dragged to her feet and onto the dance floor, the sea of people already moving. 

“How does everyone know this?” Pietro shouted to her once Darcy dragged her to the other Legacies. 

“I have no idea!” She shouted back, because four years of their friends trying to catch them up on pop culture still wasn’t enough to cover everything. “But let’s try!” 

“Love you sestra!” Pietro grinned at her, she swatted them and turned him back to their boyfriend. 

“You too, First Born.” Darcy took her hand again to lead through the steps, the sound of her friends laughing and singing along to the dumb song, drunk on energy and probably tequila and vodka. 

She wanted it to last forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the babies are graduating next chapter and i’m very sad about it but the lake makes a return


	68. And Just Like That, It Ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They graduate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg guys we’re so close to the end holy shit 
> 
> i’m so sad about this fact 
> 
> this chapter feels like an epilogue or an ending and there’s still two more chapters so sorry lol, we’ve got a wedding first! 
> 
> this is also a long chapter i’m very sorry lol
> 
> this chapter makes me so sad, my babies are all grown up and i don’t know how to deal with this, like at all 
> 
> also i only realised that Pietro was in Sci-Tech whilst i was writing this chapter so there might be inconsistencies earlier on where i just forgot? who knows 
> 
> also also, i have no idea how this schooling system worked, like at all, so just roll with degrees and whatnot lol 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

For whatever reason, they had to go back to the Academy in Indiana for graduation. Something about protocol and the other students having a goal to work towards or easier for parents to get to, blah blah blah, point was, they had to go back home. 

Because that’s what it was, no matter how long they spent at the Academy in England, Indiana would always be that one place that they felt they belonged to, where they took all their broken pieces and slotted them together like a puzzle. 

“Good afternoon. As I’m sure you all know, and if you didn’t I would have concerns, I’m Deputy Director Maria Hill, or Director Hill depending on where you are.” Maria started her welcoming speech to the sea of people. 

If anyone noticed the Legacies were all holding hands, no one said anything. Last time they’d been in this hall was for the funerals, before that, they’d watched Daisy slit the Superior’s throat before starting their battle plan. It wasn’t exactly good memories in this room. 

“I’d like to thank you all for coming today to celebrate our brilliant young people. I can honestly say that in all my years at SHIELD I’ve never seen such talent and strength from a group of teenagers. In their four years, our graduates have probably seen it all and I’d just like them to know how proud we are of them here at SHIELD. You should all be very proud of your children, they’re going to do amazing things.” 

“But enough with all the sappy stuff, I’m sure you would all like to get this over with so you can go start celebrating and I would just like to remind certain individuals that we do technically have a rule against alcohol on campus.” Maria looked pointedly at the Legacies, Daisy and Lila ducking their head since they knew her best. No one ever paid attention to that rule but maybe they pushed the limits a little bit sometimes. 

“I’d also like to take a minute to remember our kids who won’t graduate. Talented, hard working and caring young people who were taken from us far too soon. John Doyle, Taylor McNamara, Tristan Jackson, Scarlett Reid, Joey Gutierrez and James Davis. I’d like to thank them for their sacrifice and apologise once more for the atrocity that took them from all of us.” Lincoln avoided all eye contact throw his way as Joey’s name was read out, his ring twisting around his finger. Joey should have been here, they all should have, but they weren’t. 

The ones left behind had to live with that.

”Alright. First up we have Emily Anderson, graduating from Sci-Tech with a degree in biology and a minor in alien species.” Maria called, Emily walking up to the stage, taking her badge and diploma from Hill with a smile and a handshake. Her family cheered as she exited. 

A couple more names were read out, it was a smaller graduating class due to the double agents found at the end of second year and the HYDRA invasion. There were only about fifty graduates, as opposed to the average seventy. So it wasn’t long before Lila was called up.

“Lila Barton, graduating from Communications as top of the leaderboard and highest marks since Director Coulson.” Maria grinned at her niece as Lila made her way onstage, Daisy’s cheers only slightly louder than Clint’s or Bobbi’s or Nat’s. “I’m so proud of you kiddo.” Maria whispered as she gave Lila her badge and certificate. 

“Thanks, Auntie Maria.” Lila grinned. She made her way back to her friends and was enveloped by Daisy’s hug, her dad’s hand on her shoulder proudly. She studied the badge, the shiny eagle glinting. She’d done it, she’d proved she was worthy of the Barton name. 

“Kather- sorry, Kate Bishop, graduating from the Operations Academy with incredibly sharp shooting and target skills we haven’t seen since Hawkeye...the original, that is.” Kate grinned at the use of their preferred name even though they could practically feel their parents disapproving stare on their back as they walked up to get their badge and gun, (all Ops graduates were given their own gun, Comms could get one if they wanted to when they got to their posts and Sci-Tech usually declined). Piper shot them a happy and proud grin as they walked back. 

“Lincoln Campbell, graduating from Sci-Tech with a degree in biology and a minor in alien biology, and a high pass mark from the Powered Program.” Trip pushed him a little bit to get him walking. It hurt to be here, to stand where Joey should have stood, knowing that four storeys up and less than a kilometre away was the place where his fiancé, the boy he would always love, had died. 

He walked on shaky legs and willed his hands to stop quivering as he took his badge and diploma and certificate from Director Hill, the woman giving his hand a comforting squeeze as she handed him the items. 

“You’re strong, Campbell, you can do this.” She told him and it filled him with a little confidence to walk back down the steps and not immediately sink into Trip’s arms, though he accepted Trip’s hand. 

“America Chavez, graduating from Operations with terrific fighting techniques and incredible control on their powers during a fight. The flying is very cool too.” America grinned as they accepted their badge and gun from Hill, small objects but cementing their place in this world. 

And then there was a bunch of other kids from all three Academies before Dacry was called up. 

“Darcy Lewis, graduating from Sci-Tech with a degree in engineering and three minors, one in political science, one in computer science and one in astrophysics.” Darcy practically shot up the steps, shaking Hill’s hand firmly as she was given her degree and certificate. Doctor Lewis had a nice ring to it. 

“Juliette Mannings, graduating from Operations and the Powered Program with the finest control of hydrokinetic powers we’ve ever seen and fantastic hand to hand skills.” Mac and Daisy and Darcy whooped and clapped as Jules approached, taking her badge and gun with a smile. She rested her head on Mac’s shoulder once she’d sat back down, the gun a comfortable new weight on her waistband, the badge fascinating her for a minute. 

“And first of two, we have Pietro Maximoff, graduating from Sci-Tech with a degree in chemistry and also technically, graduating from Operations, as they took all of the physical tests and passed with flying colours.” Pietro strode up to the stage, a grin lighting up his face. He’d basically stolen Robbie’s gloves at this point, they contrasted nicely with his lace corset over his dress shirt because lesbians weren’t the only ones who could pull off the pirate vibes. He grabbed his gun, badge and diploma and used his powers to speed back to Robbie, much to the confusion of everyone who didn’t know he had powers.

Robbie shook his head fondly at his partner and kissed him softly. 

”And following that, whatever that was, we have Wanda Maximoff, graduating from Sci-Tech, with a degree in biochemistry and a minor in nuclear physics.” Wanda was a lot more subdued than her twin as she walked to get her badge and diploma, but she smiled widely all the same. 

Four years ago, it had just been her and Pietro, orphaned and powered and alone. But they had a family now. Pietro and Robbie were totally getting married once they pulled their heads out of their asses and someone asked, and she had Darcy and Jules and Mac and Daisy and Lila and everyone. The eagle on the badge used to be something she was afraid of, like the HYDRA symbol or the Stark Industries name engraved on bombs like the one that took her parents and nearly killed her and Pietro, but now...it was her proof that they’d survived. 

“How have I lived with you for four years and not known you did nuclear physics?” Piper hissed once she’d sat back down. Wanda shrugged and smiled at them. 

“You never asked.” Piper rolled their eyes. 

“And to complete the M’s, Daisy Morse-Romanoff, graduating top of the leaderboard from Operations with finely tuned hand to hand combat skills, sharp shooting and being able to fight blindfolded, and from Communications with mission planning, bomb disposal and hostile takedown skills.” Daisy willed her hands to stop shaking as she walked up to Maria, her Mama’s leather jacket that she’d stolen outside loose around her shoulders. 

“Laying it on a bit thick, weren’t you?” She whispered to Maria who gave her a grin.

“You deserve it kiddo, after everything you’ve gone through in the past four years.” Daisy nodded, eyes downcast slightly, memories of second year blurring behind her eyes. 

Note to self, brainwashing is not good for the academic mind. 

“Thanks.” She said eventually, putting the smile back on her face. It grew more real once she was given her badge and gun and certificate. 

“I doubt you’ll even use that gun.” Maria commented, Daisy shrugged. 

“If I need one, I’ll take one.” 

“Alright there, Melinda May.” Maria rolled her eyes fondly at her niece who stuck out her tongue and walked back down the steps, badge and gun in hand. 

“Well, we’re officially agents.” Lila whispered once she’d sat down. Daisy hummed and turned to kiss her partner, only to find a hand blocking her path. 

“Can we save it for later, dear children?” Clint asked, Lila gave him a withering glare and Daisy rolled her eyes. 

“Ik maak het later wel goed.” (I’ll make up for it later.) Daisy promised. 

“Dat Weet ik.” (Oh, I know you will.) Lila grinned back. 

“Gross.” Bobbi said dryly from behind them. 

Maria cycled through a few more names before Piper was called up. 

“P. Piper, graduating from Operations with sniper skills we haven’t seen since Agent May was here, tactical planning and a fine tuned use of undercover skills.” Piper squeezed Kate’s hand again before going up the steps, happy that Maria hadn’t used their dreaded first name. They’d really have to change it at some point. 

They were handed their badge and gun, smile slightly drooping as they looked over the crowd. 

Their parents hadn’t shown up after all. They’d at least expected them to come to their graduation, they’d been SHIELD agents themselves for gods sake. But they’d chosen not to come, Davis’ parents sitting in their chairs instead, cheering them on instead of their son. 

That still meant a lot and Piper mouthed thank you at them gratefully. Kate kissed their forehead when they sat back down. 

“Roberto Reyes, graduating from Operations with sharp shooting skills, hand to hand combat skills and an incredible use of uncommon weapons such as chains he can light on fire.” Robbie blushed slightly at the praise of his powers and he could practically feel Daisy and Lila’s teasing for that now. He got his badge and gun and apologised once again to Hill for setting a field on fire, however it was to catch runaway criminals so it wasn’t like it was too much of a problem. 

“I thought Pietro was the one with a praise kink.” Lila hissed once he sat back down, he swatted her. 

“Like you can say anything, butterfly.” Daisy whispered getting a glare from Lila. 

“Do you have to do this right now?” Bobbi chastised them and they all fell silent, cheeks a similar shade of pink. 

“Sorry Mom.” Daisy mumbled. 

“Antoine Triplett, graduating from Operations with sniper skills, sharp shooting and deception techniques inspired by Peggy Carter herself.” This time, Lincoln had to push Trip to go get his badge and gun. However once he held his badge, his smile was the widest they’d seen in a long time, Sharon cheering wildly in the crowd.

”Check you out, Agent Triplett.” Lincoln said when he sat back down. 

“Doctor Campbell.” Trip returned, threading their fingers together. “We made it.” 

“We did.” 

* * *

They sat at the edge of the lake, like they had so many times before but they knew it was different this time. Something in the air had shifted, the sense of finality enveloping them all. 

“I almost don’t want to leave.” Lila admitted. “It all gets real after this.” 

“Who’s moving to the Triskellion again?” Wanda asked. Everyone but Piper, Kate, Trip and Lincoln raised their hands. 

“Strike Team’s HOTEL and TANGO are being stationed at the Playground, since most of the agents there are leaving or retiring.” Kate explained. 

“I’m doing residency at a hospital in Minot up on North Dakota, so I’ll be able to stay at the Playground too.” Lincoln said, Trip’s fingers soothing his anxiety at being so near where Joey died. The rhythmic movement was calming for Trip too, flashing of blonde hair dyed red with blood and bright lights of an air ambulance and the sound of whiskey hitting the water as they poured shots for those who would never drink them. 

“Rest of us are stationed at the Triskellion, though I heard rumours they want people on the Helicarrier.” Daisy said, her head in Lila’s lap, playing with her fingers. 

“How many people ended up on DELTA anyway?” Piper asked. 

“Me, Daisy, Jules and Mac.” Pietro answered, hands braiding Wanda’s hair like they used to when they were younger. Robbie’s grip was firm and safe on their hips, Wanda making red tendrils tell shadow stories above her head. 

“That’s it? There’s like eight people in TANGO, seven in HOTEL.” Kate wondered. 

“Powers, remember? Besides, we’ve got a Romanoff, we’ll be fine.” Jules said. “The Quinjet was a nice perk though.” 

“This is just clear favouritism.” Trip complained. 

“Someone’s jealous.” Mac sang, laughing when Trip stuck his tongue out at her. 

“Well, Lila’s got a world of paperwork to look forward to.” Daisy rolled her eyes fondly at Lila’s glare. “You chose Comms babe.”

“Daisy, you also graduated from Comms?” Lila pointed out. 

“Hush, that was just for fun.” Daisy protested.

“Oh yeah sure, two Academies at once was just for “fun”. Your Pez dispenser full of Adderall and Prozac begs to differ.” Lila poked her, making Daisy squirm because she would never admit it, but she was ticklish. 

“Hey! Medication Pez dispensers were a great idea okay!” Darcy said indignantly, pulling Mac’s arm around her waist. Jules’ legs were immediately in her lap. 

“That they were.” Wanda agreed. It was much nicer to take anxiety meds when it got bad from an Elsa shaped Pez dispenser than a pill bottle. 

“Do yall remember the first time we sat here?” Robbie asked, once the teasing and laughing had died down. 

“It was after Capture the Flag wasn’t it? Back in first year.” Lincoln said, fingers skimming the waters edge. 

“I didn’t know you all back then.” Darcy said, a little wistful. 

“Me either.” Jules added. 

“Or me.” Kate and Mac said together. 

“We were so different back then.” Trip said, looking at his friends. Their faces all held a certain nostalgia, a longing for what had been. 

“Do you ever miss it? Who were back then?” Lila asked, tracing lines on Daisy’s arms, the scars almost reflecting in the setting sun. Daisy kept playing the fingers on her other hand, following the lines on her palm. 

“All the time.” Lincoln admitted. He had the world at his feet back then, he had pure happiness back then. 

“No.” Daisy said firmly. “I like who I am now.” 

“Same.” Piper agreed, leaning into Kate’s touch. 

“We are better people because of each other.” Wanda said. “All of us.” 

Like it had for those three years they spent here building this home, this family, the sun began to set on the lake. Shadows crept across the grass and the lack of light illuminated the lake, ripples casting soft shimmers to flow over them. 

And none of them noticed the sign next to the lake, the shot glasses that lay beside the sigh in the long grass. Hill kept her promise to keep it quiet, you’d only find the sign and glasses if you were really looking for them. 

**Legacy Lake - in honour of J. Davis, S. Reid and J. Gutierrez**

**Find your people and hold them close, it’s amazing how much you can lose in an instant.**

And just like they did nearly a year ago, the Legacies stood in a circle at the edge of the lake, now named after them though most of them would never know. 

“Here’s to us.” Lila said, raising her glass to the centre of the circle. 

“Who’s like us?” Jules added. 

“Damn few.” Daisy finished. 

Their glasses clinked as they cheered and threw their shots back. Daisy’s faithful Russian vodka still too strong for them all.

Music floated toward them as the graduation party fell into full swing.

“Come on, let’s go celebrate!” Darcy cried, dragging Mac and Jules and Wanda back up the hill. The other sighed and followed, Daisy and Lila staying behind for a minute.

“I’ll love you forever, no matter where we are, you know that right?” Daisy whispered, finger tapping against Lila’s hand.

“Of course I do, little love. Even when everything’s wrong, I know that.” Lila whispered back, kissing Daisy gently. “I love you too.” 

And Daisy grinned and kissed her back, head resting on her shoulder when they broke apart, eyes toward the sky. She thanked all those people up there they had named those stars for that she got to be here. That she had this no matter what.

“Come on lovebirds!” Robbie called for them from up on the hill.

“Coming!” Lila shouted back. “Ready for a new adventure?”

“Always.” 


	69. This Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobbi and Nat’s wedding. (part 1, technically)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys...second last chapter what- 
> 
> this chapter is very very long and very sappy so i apologise in advance but guys bobbinat wedding okay 
> 
> this ends tomorrow and i’m genuinely every sad about it but i’d like to thank everyone who kept up with this story, whether you came from This Family We Forged or started here, thank you, you have no idea how much it means to me that people liked or interacted with this story 
> 
> okay i’ll stop being sad now 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

“Hi Mama. Wow...you look amazing!” Daisy gushed at her mama, red hair flowing down her back, contrasting her white dress, a sleeveless top connecting to a flowy bottom that reminded Daisy of pictures she’d seen in storybooks when she was younger. Her mama looked almost ethereal and it made her smile wider. 

“Thanks, паук.” Natasha said quietly, running her hands through her hair again. “You look great too.” 

“This old thing?” Daisy rolled her eyes at her mama’s half-hearted glare. “What’s up?” 

“Nothing’s up, malyshka.” Natasha protested, but Daisy gave her a hard look. “I hate when you do that.” 

“You just hate that I can still read you like an open book. As can your wife-to-be, so seriously Mama, what’s wrong?” Daisy made them sit on the bed, the sheets scratchy beneath her fingertips. 

“I’m getting married.” Natasha said, voice tight. Daisy looked at her in confusion. 

“Uh yeah, that’s why we’re here?” 

“That’s a big step Daisy. What if we get married and immediately regret it and break up? What if she decides she hates me once we’re married? What if-“ 

“None of that will happen.” Daisy cut her off firmly because they both kind of rambled when they were afraid. 

“How can you know that Zee?” Natasha protested, picking at the clear nail polish on her nails. If she wasn’t so afraid of smudging her makeup she’d probably bite them. 

“Because of me.” Daisy smiled, but Natasha frowned. 

“You’re gonna need to elaborate on that паук.” 

“You’d only been going for two years when you got me and you stayed together. Through all the bullshit, the Battle of New York, the “Ward incident”, HYDRA, every bad mission, everything that I put you through...Mama, you stayed together through the hardest moments. I don’t think getting married will change that you love each other.” Daisy explained, finger tapping against the sheets. Maybe one of these days she’d kick that habit, but it kept her sane so probably not. 

“When did you get so wise, little one?” Natasha laughed a little wetly, willing herself not to cry lest she ruin her makeup. 

“Trust me, once you live with teenagers going through constant relationship crisis’, you start to pick up some skills.” Daisy grinned. 

“Weren’t you one of the ones that went through a relationship crisis?” 

“Hush, we do not speak of it.” Daisy protested, ignoring her mama’s eye roll. She threw her arms around her mama, inhaling her usual scent of cinnamon and apples. 

“You know that I’ll always love you malyshka, no matter what happens. So will your mom. We love you so goddamn much.” Natasha told her, tapping the message in morse code on her back anyway. Daisy nodded against her shoulder. 

“Let’s get you married.” 

* * *

The service was being held in Ormewood Forest in Atlanta, the place Bobbi and Nat met and had their first date. Deep in the forest, they’d set up fairy lights and chairs, creating the aisle. There were tables set up elsewhere for later, a clearing serving as their dance floor. 

Daisy thought it was perfect. 

“Kid, you stole my outfit.” Clint complained when Daisy walked up to the makeshift alter. She rolled her eyes, taking in their tuxes. 

“I wear it better.” She said, gesturing to the half unbuttoned dress shirt (a style stolen from Robbie) and combat boots. If she had knives tucked somewhere then that was her business, you could never be too careful. “Good attempt though.”

”Alright, cheeky.” Clint laughed. “Can you believe it took them this long?” 

“Well not all of us meet our wives at twenty and get married at twenty two. Some of us like to take our time.” Daisy replied. “Don’t you have to walk with Jemma down the aisle?” 

“And you have to walk with Mack, yet we’re both still standing here.” He pointed out, she hit him. “Just wanted to check everything was okay.” 

They walked back down the aisle, the seats starting to fill. It wasn’t a massive wedding party, mainly just SHIELD and the Legacies. Melina and Alexei had already taken their seats, Yelena was waiting with Steve to go down the aisle when the service started. Morgan was cooing to baby Alya Fitzsimmons, both girls adorably dressed in matching flower girl dresses. Some of Bobbi’s biological family had come too, looking rather out of place among all the spies. 

“You’ve got the rings right?” Clint asked, not for the first time. Daisy rolled her eyes and pulled out the box. 

“What do you take me for, Barton?” She asked, like she would forget or lose them. 

“A baby assassin.” He said, she hit him again. 

“Hush, old man. I could take you any day.” 

“I’m only forty five Daisy, jeez.” He protested. 

“That’s old, Dad.” Lila cut in, their lilac dress making their eyes twinkle. Daisy forgot how to speak for a minute. Lila smiled at her softly. “Hey love.” 

“Hi.” Daisy breathed, pulling Lila in by the waist. “You look amazing, baby.” 

“How many times? Not right now Daisy.” Bobbi stopped them, Daisy glared at her. 

“You’re no fun Mom, retirement is ruining you.” Daisy pouted. Bobbi grinned and pulled her in for a hug. 

“I’m not even retired yet, детка. And I’m plenty fun, thank you.” 

“Whatever. You look gorgeous, Mom.” Daisy said, looking at her mom’s fishtail dress, paired with white doc martens because they were still in a forest, and every spy hated heels. Daisy was pretty sure it was in the SHIELD handbook at this point. 

“Thanks Rockstar. So, are we doing this?” Bobbi said, everyone started scrambling for their seats. Lila kissed Daisy on the cheek before heading for her seat in the front row next to her mom and brothers. 

Daisy and Darcy had already hooked up the sound system, speakers balancing on tree branches and sitting in little holes in the dirt. The sun had long since set, the fairy lights casting a warm glow around the small service. “Turning Page” by Sleeping at Last began playing, Morgan took her place with Alya’s stroller at the start of the aisle. 

The two girls walked (or were pushed) down the aisle, Morgan stopping every now and then to throw white lily and sunflower petals every now and then, Bobbi and Nat’s favourite flowers. Fitz and Pepper met them at the end, taking their respective daughters back to their seats in the front row. 

Jemma and Clint followed them, Jemma’s sapphire blue dress swaying slightly in the slight breeze of summertime. Elena and Bucky followed them, and then May walked Bobbi down the aisle. 

Daisy hadn’t seen happiness like it in a long time, an entire group of people just smiling and living and enjoying the moment. For just this one moment, nothing could touch them, nothing bad could happen. They weren’t assassins or spies or scientists, they were just family coming together for a wedding. 

Her moms’ wedding. The two women who took in an eight year old assassin with trust issues a mile long, who barely understood the world around her, who thought she was a monster, and learned to love her. They taught her to trust, to breathe, to love. 

And now they could finally be happy. They could leave behind the organisation that gave them so much but took too much in return. Daisy wanted happiness for them more than anything. 

“Ready, kiddo?” Mack asked, offering his arm. She shook her head to rid the sappy thoughts and smiled, taking his arm. They walked down the aisle, she kissed her mom on the cheek and took her place next to Clint. 

Yelena and Steve followed them and just as they approached the alter, the song changed to Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Yelena and Steve took their place next to Daisy. 

Bobbi let out an audible gasp as she watched Coulson walk Nat down the aisle, the lights making her hair shine and her skin almost glow. 

“I love that they still simp for each other.” She whispered to Clint, who snorted and ignored Maria’s very pointed look. 

“Those two kids have it bad.” He whispered back. 

Coulson gave Nat a hug before pushing her toward Bobbi. The two women just stared at each other, taking in the others beauty. 

“If I’d known you were gonna pull this look, I would have asked you a lot sooner.” Bobbi said eventually, a laugh ringing out. Nat rolled her eyes fondly and they both turned toward Maria. The music died down as Maria started the service. 

“We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of these two women. Nat and Bobbi are two of our best agents, they’ve given so much for SHIELD and the protection of the world and I’d like to thank them for that. We are forever indebted to you two.” Maria began, the two women smiling softly at her. 

“Now I was told by a very threatening email from a young Morse-Romanoff to keep this as short as I could, so let’s not waste any more time.” Daisy blushed furiously, and grinned when her mom’s gave her a look. 

“What? Took yall long enough to get here, I didn’t want to prolong it.” Daisy defended. 

“Ну что ж, спасибо стар.” (Well, thanks star.) Bobbi said. 

“В любое время, это моя специальность.” (Anytime, it’s my speciality.) Daisy grinned in return. 

“Alright, moving on from that. I believe you wrote your own vows?” Maria asked, Bobbi and Nat nodded. “Bobbi, you can go first.” 

“You were a rumour I heard about missions, Strike Team DELTA, running missions no one else could, the Russian redhead who could kill a man with her pinky finger. I looked up to you, well until I found out you were 5’6, and then I kind of had to look down at you, but you were what I wanted to be. And then we met on that mission and you were nothing like I pictured. You were funny and warm and fiercely protective, and I’m really glad I asked you to steal the motorbike to go see Jennifer’s Body, which tells you a lot about us. Nat, you became my everything after that, even if you ran away the first time we said “I love you”. You were more than that assassin or DELTA or whatever, you were my Nat. You were who held me when I got hurt, when I had nightmares, who pushed me to go further, who loved me unconditionally. You gave me a family, with you and Daisy and Clint and the kids. So, I’m really glad you said yes to that date all those years ago, because my life wouldn’t be the same without you and I really fucking love you, Tash.” 

Daisy watched as her mom declared her undying love for her mama and caught Lila’s eye. They could have this one day. She was really glad she wore waterproof mascara because the tears were coming thick and fast. 

Natasha bit her lip to keep from crying too hard as she started her speech. 

“Bobbi Morse, you are, without a doubt, the best person I’ve ever met in my entire life. I know it’s cliche but I’m pretty sure you’re my soulmate, which is terrifying to me. I wasn’t raised to love, I was raised to kill and destroy and close myself off. I thought I succeeded in that, I thought I could just have my friendships and that would be enough, but then I met you. You were bright and bubbly and perfect, and I think I knew from the minute you held onto my waist on that motorbike that I wanted to be with you forever, but I was scared. You broke down all my walls and barriers and loved me even when I was a mess, crying on the bathroom floor or running off on a three month mission because we admitted we loved each other. I knew love before I met you, but you made me understand it, crave it. You gave a home to come back to, a person to fight for. We built our own corner of the universe with each other and our daughter and I’ll be forever thankful that we did, Bobbi. You are person, my tether to the world, every stupid metaphor. I love you, Bobbi Morse, and I’ll never stop loving you.” 

You could hear a pin drop in the forest, people were barely breathing after Nat’s speech. Tears ran down both women’s faces, their hands tightly locked together, a grip almost bruising but held all the words they couldn’t say out loud. 

“Do we have rings?” Maria asked, her own voice taut with tears. Her best friends were getting married, cut her some slack. 

“Here moms.” Daisy said, giving Bobbi the box of their rings. She got a kiss on the forehead from each of her moms and gave them both tight hugs, whispering “nice speech, holy shit” to them. They slid the rings that Nat had picked for them in Russia on the other’s hand. 

“Okay, Bobbi, do you take Natasha to be your lawful wedded wife?” Maria asked the blonde. 

“Of course I do.” Bobbi grinned. 

“And Natasha, do you take Bobbi to be your-“ 

“Fuck yes.” Nat cut her off and Maria rolled her eyes. 

“Then by the power vested in me by Google and Coulson, I hereby pronounce you, wife and wife! You may kiss the bride!” Maria announced and Natasha practically attacked Bobbi, the two sharing a deep kiss. Daisy watched for a minute before putting a hand over her eyes because that was her moms, so, gross. Clint laughed and ruffled her hair, she took her hand away to glare at him. 

“I’m still armed.” She warned. 

“And your moms are still kissing.” He informed her with a grin, she clapped her hand back over her eyes. 

“My sister got married for real.” Yelena said. 

“As opposed to...” Daisy asked, Yelena tapping her when Bobbi and Nat broke apart, the wedding party cheering and clapping. Green Eyes by Coldplay began filling the air, the newlyweds barely breaking eye contact. 

“Well, I always tell people my sister moved out West, she’s a science teacher, her husband renovates houses, she’s thinking about moving but she’s gonna wait until the interest rates go down...” Yelena told Daisy, a mischievous glint in her eye. 

“That’s not her story.” Daisy grinned back. 

“No, hers is much better.” Yelena agreed. 

Daisy watched her moms kiss again, (gentle this time, she wasn’t traumatised again) and felt a warm rush in her chest. Her family was complete, official and whatnot even though paper had never mattered to them. 

It seemed like time stood still in that moment, Yelena and Clint teasing each other, Jemma and Mack trying not to cry again, Bobbi and Nat looking happier than she’d ever seen them. 

“So, we’re all Morse-Romanoff now.” She told them when she walked over. 

“Guess we are.” Bobbi laughed, slinging an arm around her daughter. “But you’ll always be the first.” 

“The spies and their assassin daughter, who would have thought it would work out?” Daisy said, leaning her head on her mama’s shoulder. 

“Im glad it did.” Natasha said. “I’m glad it all worked out.” 

“Don’t yall have a first dance to have?” Daisy laughed, squirming when Bobbi went to tickle her. 

“We were having a nice moment!” 

“Moments over, come on, I wanna dance with my partner and watch yall dance to the Beatles.” Daisy laughed again at their eye rolls. 

“Люблю тебя вечно.” (Love you forever.) Natasha said to them both. 

“To the stars and back.” Bobbi added. 

“Etiam cum die fines, et nocte inscipit, ego diligam te“ (Even when the day ends and night begins, I will love you.) Daisy finished, they hadn’t said it like that in a long time. 

And the moment kept going, happiness and love unyielding and Daisy was happy. She kissed Lila once she had the opportunity and dragged them towards the clearing, Robbie and Pietro on their heels. 

And the moment ended but a new one began as the beginning notes of Blackbird by the Beatles floated through the speakers, the moon shining on her moms as they began to sway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i steal yelena’s lines from the black widow trailer? of course i did 
> 
> hope yall enjoyed! my blackbird babies are married!


	70. Hiraeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiraeth: a homesickness for a home you can’t return to, or that never was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys *lil gay tear escapes* it’s over 
> 
> that summary makes it sound very sad and it is, but it’s more sappy than that, also there’s Staticquake reconciliation because i completely forgot that they never made up so here you go :)
> 
> also i do not like this last chapter but it’s okay i guess 
> 
> i’ve been overwhelmed throughout these 70 chapters by the positive feedback and support on this fic, thank you so much everyone if you read the new chapter everyday or every couple of days or weeks or whatever, thank you 
> 
> i salute you if you stuck thru this because i put these poor kids especially Daisy thru the ringer god 
> 
> once again, thank you :) 
> 
> (also sequel coming soon!) 
> 
> enjoy! -bex xx

Daisy stood with her friends, Lila’s arm around her shoulder as she watched her moms have their first dance.

The song fit them, she thought. Two caged birds with broken wings, alone in the world until they found each other, and learned to fly. It was beautiful. 

Lila squeezed her shoulder when a tear slid down her face. She smiled and rubbed her forehead against Lila’s side, her partner giggling as she did. 

“Are you happy, little love?” Lila whispered, tilting Daisy’s chin up to look at them. 

“More than anything.” Daisy said, kissing Lila gently. Lila hummed into the kiss, hand threaded in Daisy’s hair as the soft song ended. Daisy broke away to watch her mom twirl her mama, both of their white dresses glowing in the semi-darkness. 

The after party kicked into full swing after that. Daisy danced with her moms, with Coulson and May, with Peter and Morgan, with her friends. Strangely, she didn’t feel as strangled here as she did at prom or the halloween festival, like all the vibrations were closing in on her. The night air and quiet trees made it calmer, balancing out the jumpy, excited vibrations of the wedding party. 

They danced for hours, her moms tipped cake in each other’s faces, Clint danced with her mama and she swore she saw them both crying. 

“Whatcha doing down here all on your lonesome?” Lila and Lincoln came down the small clearing she had found by wandering a little away from the party, finding a lake because of course there was a lake here. They were like, her thing at this point. 

“Just taking some time to think.” Daisy said, throwing another pebble into the lake, watching it skip until it sunk. 

“What about, Zee?” Lincoln asked, taking a seat on the bank beside her, Lila on her other side. 

“Arson.” 

“Fuck off.” Lila pushed her slightly, she laughed at their eye roll. 

“Can I talk to you about something?” Lincoln asked suddenly, his hands knitted together, shaking slightly with nerves. Daisy frowned and nodded. 

“What’s up Sparky?” 

“I never apologised for what I said in the kitchen that night.” He said, refusing to look at her. Lila took her hand when Daisy tensed, remembering that night. She’d had nightmares for weeks after that, of almost saving Joey, Lottie and Davis, only to lose them at the last minute, of being brainwashed and pulling the trigger herself, of everyone agreeing with Lincoln and turning on her. 

“Linc, it doesn’t matter-“ 

“No, it does. I shouldn’t have said any of what I said, you didn’t deserve any of that, Dais. You...you did so much good that night and I just...spat all over it because I was drunk and angry, so I’m sorry, Zee. I’m really fucking sorry.” He rubbed his eyes furiously to get rid of the tears threatening to fall, tiny blue sparks at his finger tips when he pulled away.

“I, uh, I want you to know that I tried. I wanted to save everyone so badly, I just...couldn’t. I even hacked the medical files surrounding Coulson’s death to see what brought him back, but the place doesn’t exist anymore. I forgive you Lincoln, so long as you forgive me.” Daisy said, moving more towards Lincoln, her finger tapping Blackbird into his thigh, where her hand lay. He finally looked at her, and shook his head. 

“You have nothing for me to forgive. You were strong enough to kill the people who took Joey and Lottie and Davis, you got us closure. I was the ones who shouted at you.” Lincoln protested. 

“I already forgave you, Pikachu. You were drunk and sad and you didn’t mean it. Thank you for apologising though. I love you, okay? Even when you throw me into walls.” He chuckled a little and pressed a kiss to the scar on her cheek. She laughed when Lila pulled her back into their lap.

” _Mine_.” Lila growled, holding Daisy by the waist. 

“Someone’s jealous.” Lincoln practically sang, barely dodging Daisy’s knife that was flung in his general direction. “Well I’m glad some things never change.” 

“Wassup sluts.” Robbie greeted as the rest of the Legacies joined them on the water edge. 

“Oh no, who made Sparky cry?” Trip asked, examining Lincoln’s slightly blotchy face in the light of their phone. Lincoln pouted and shoved the phone away, pulling Trip down to sit next to him. 

“I made myself cry thank you.” Lincoln said. 

“Well it wouldn’t be the Legacies if someone didn’t cry.” Piper quipped, dipping their feet in the water. Daisy skipped another stone, trying to get it further than Jules and Darcy’s. 

“Who’s going into the big bad world first?” Kate asked. 

“DELTA have their first mission in August and we need to do training before that.” Pietro told them, taking their boots and socks off to go sprinting across the lake. 

“TANGO and HOTEL aren’t starting missions till September. Bigger teams, more training.” Piper sighed. 

“I start at the hospital in August, they like to start off with smaller and shifts and I’ll work up to longer ones.” Lincoln said, Trip’s head in his lap. 

“BRAVO go on mission in late August.” Robbie said. 

“We start in the lab in July, they want us on task as soon as possible.” Wanda said, Darcy nodding. 

“Hey Tro, bet you can’t catch the next stone that Zee throws across the lake before I do.” Mac dared Pietro, flying a couple feet in the air.

”It is on like Donkey Kong.” Pietro said firmly, stepping up to the water edge. “Ready?” 

“Okay, ready, set, go!” Daisy chucked her stone and quaked it to make it go further, Mac and Pietro racing after it. Mac got there first, picking Pietro off the water and carrying them back to shore despite their protests. 

“You definitely cheated.” Pietro pouted, Mac rolled their eyes. 

“Sore loser.” Mac grinned. 

“I’m so excited to share a jet with you two.” Jules sighed. “Daisy, you’re going to be my saving grace.” 

“Oh by the way, I asked and they said that whilst we could keep mattresses to sleep on in the jet, it would take away from our floor space and weapons storage, so no to the nap zone.” Daisy informed her new teammates, receiving disappointed groans in return. “We are allowed pillows, comforters and blankets though.” 

“Strike Team DELTA sounds terrifying now, what with their nap zones on their jet and scary teammates.” Piper teased. 

“We are plenty scary thank you.” Mac defended. “Just last week Jules was practicing with her powers and tipped a bucket on her own head.” 

“You promised you wouldn’t tell!” Jules smacked her partner, only to be kissed instead. 

“It’s all getting rather real now isn’t it?” Wanda said quietly, casting scarlet tendrils over the water. Jules joined in, making the water dance amongst Wanda’s wisps of red, Daisy quaking the pictures the other girls told to make them float a little higher.

”Yeah, I guess it is.” Lila said, drinking in the moment with their friends. They were all moving on, to Strike Teams and labs and hospitals and the command centre, but they’d always have this, the family they built. 

Clint and Bobbi and Nat watched them from the top of the hill leading down to the lake. 

“What is it with them and lakes?” Clint asked, the two women shrugging. 

“Guess it’s just their thing.” Nat said, watching her daughter laugh with her partner and her friends at the stories they were telling over the lake in scarlet tendrils, water and quakes. 

“Think they’ll be okay?” Clint asked. “They’ve been through a lot in the past four years.” 

“They have, but look at what they’ve built here. Look at our kids, look how far they’ve come.” Bobbi said, pulling her wife closer to her.

”We did good, but they’ll do better.” Nat said, her head on Bobbi’s shoulder as they watched their kids laugh and play and tease each other and just live. 

* * *

_Three months later._

Daisy pulled up her motorbike to the curb. Lila sighed as she watched Daisy pull off her helmet and shake her hair out, a battered leather jacket she’d picked up when they went to Switzerland resting on top of a black tank top and black jeans. 

“You have a briefing in like twenty minutes and I have to make sure that TANGO’s first mission goes smoothly, babe.” Lila rolled her eyes, when Daisy pouted, pulling her in to the motorbike by the hips. 

“Twenty minutes is plenty of time for coffee before we go back inside. Hop on, spider monkey.” Daisy laughed at Lila’s second eye roll. 

“You did not just pull Twilight.” 

“I did so. Now are you coming?” Daisy said, handing Lila her helmet anyway. 

“The nearest coffee shop is ten minutes away.” 

“I’ll drive fast. Cmon babe, I’m going to France for two weeks, aren’t you gonna miss me?” Daisy practically whined, Lila relented, putting the helmet on. 

“I’m leaving you in perfectly capable hands.” She said before she got on the bike. 

“Ah yes, the new Strike Team DELTA, the pinnacles of responsibility.” Daisy revved the engine, grinning when she saw Jules and Mac walking in to the Triskellion. “Yall want anything?” 

“Nah, we’re good. See you in the briefing Zee!” Jules shouted back. 

“If I let you put Red Bull in your coffee, can we leave now?” Lila slid her arms around Daisy’s waist, Daisy revved the engine again. 

“Yes, babe.” Daisy grinned as she flipped back the kickstand and pushed off, speeding down the road, waving to the Dodge Charger when it pulled up beside them. 

“Race?” Robbie stuck his head out the window and grinned. 

“You’re on Reyes.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, thanks so much for reading this fic! i hope you enjoyed this ending and the fic in general! 
> 
> i’m going to cry now :’)


End file.
